-Dallen

Welcome to my official first build log and first ship build. After careful consideration, and thanks to many of you, I have decided on the Batelina as my first ship build. I was told this would be a good choice to get me going, so, I picked up this kit from Rick at Modeller's Workshop. He also hooked me up with Zoran from MarisStella, both are really nice guy's, going out of there way for the hobby.
 
Now to the kit itself, I noticed how nice a quality the wood was, properly bundled, no warping whatsoever. The laser cut plywood parts are equally nice. The step by step manual looks complete and readable, good pictures and a full scale plan with all the views needed.
 
One more reason I picked this kit was the two build logs I found on this forum. Both have super detailed build pictures and extra info not found in the kit.
 
Here is the one from Zoran
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/11779-news-and-info-from-marisstella-ship-model-kits/?p=420044
 
And this one is from donrobinson
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/14153-batelina-by-donrobinson-finished-marisstella-110/?p=438912
 
 
I'm not sure that I can add much to what has been done. This will simply show how a first timer can do at this kit. All that I can hope is for mine to turn out half as nice.
 
Here are some pictures after a few nights. Slow but steady....
 









Here you can see my home made Keel Clamp. Rudimentary but it works...

Glad to oblige, 'Bigmac'. This arrangement allows the lid to open at right angles to the sides.

Thank you, some good finds there!

There are extra spaces included in each hyperlink - when you click them, you get something which looks like this (not I have cut off the www so the full URL shows as text not a URL):
 
.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21389%C2%A0%C2%A0
 
Everything after the 21389 is superfluous - the work around I found was to click the link, then click in the address bar and backspace to remove the %C2%A0%C2%A0
 
So to get to Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, the actual link is http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38961
 
(NOTE - this is Volume 1 of 3 published 1838)

Here's a list of naval related books available from Project Gutenburg all are without copywrights and maybe downloaded for your interest.
 
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=sail+ship
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=wood+ship
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=building+ships
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=british+war-ships
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46094
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48179
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25749
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29285
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25544 The Pioneer Steamship Savannah: A Study for a Scale Model by Howard Irving Chapelle
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31179  Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and Catamaran by Howard Irving Chapelle
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23861  The Story of the Great War, Volume V (of 12) by Churchill, Miller, and Reynolds
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46215  The Battles in Flanders From Ypres to Neuve Chapelle by Edmund Dane
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6721  The Voyages of Captain Scott : Retold from the Voyage of the Discovery and
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26509  Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage by Parry
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4673  Notes By the Way in a Sailor's Life by Arthur E. Knights
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31910  Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp by John Shipp
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10542  The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" by William Hope Hodgson
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24880  The Wreck of the Titan by Morgan Robertson
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13830  The Wreck of the Hesperus by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21531  Woodwork Joints: How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. by William Fairham
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22107  Wood-Carving: Design and Workmanship by George Jack
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12299  The Mechanical Properties of Wood by Samuel J. Record
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20846  Handwork in Wood by William Noyes
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27238  Woodworking Tools 1600-1900 by Peter C. Welsh
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43604  Wood-working for Beginners: A Manual for Amateurs by Charles G. Wheeler
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43574  Carpentry and Woodwork by Edwin W. Foster
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42650  The Boy Craftsman by A. Neely Hall
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26598  Seasoning of Wood by J. B. Wagner
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52902  A Naval Expositior by Thomas Riley Blanckley
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36776  Inventions in the Century by William Henry Doolittle
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/725      Men of Invention and Industry by Samuel Smiles
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11368  Stories of Inventors: The Adventures of Inventors and Engineers by Doubleday
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50475  The Young Ship-Builders of Elm Island by Elijah Kellogg
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7947  The Diary of a U-boat Commander by Sir Stephen King-Hall
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44228   Boat-Building and Boating by Daniel Carter Beard
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23601  The U-boat hunters by James B. Connolly
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53900  Historical Record of the Seventh, or the Queen's Own Regiment of Hussars
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20483  Artillery Through the Ages by Albert C. Manucy
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43799  Gunnery in 1858: Being a Treatise on Rifles, Cannon, and Sporting Arms by Greener
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38961  Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18941  The Fight for a Free Sea: A Chronicle of the War of 1812 by Ralph Delahaye Paine
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52942  The Year after the Armada by Martin A. S. Hume
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52472  Captain Cuellar's adventures in Connaught & Ulster A.D. 1588. by Hugh Allingham
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22942  Clare Avery: A Story of the Spanish Armada by Emily Sarah Holt
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3334  Drake's Great Armada by Walter Bigges
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42604   Stories of the Ships by Lewis R. Freeman
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32166  Thomas Andrews, Shipbuilder by Shan F. Bullock       
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29685  Submarine Warfare of To-day by Charles W. Domville-Fife
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26641  The Submarine Hunters: A Story of the Naval Patrol Work in the Great War
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33438  Sea-Hounds by Lewis R. Freeman
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26040  Log-book of Timothy Boardman by Timothy Boardman
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45583  Scapa and a Camera by C. W. Burrows
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21404  From Powder Monkey to Admiral: A Story of Naval Adventure by Kingston
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36136  Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors: Tales of 1812 by James Barnes
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45011  The Logs of the Serapis--Allance--Ariel, Under the Command of John Paul Jones,
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46788  The Story of the "Britannia" by Edward Phillips Statham
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40847  A Short History of H.M.S. Victory by W. J. L. Wharton
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21389  Ronald Morton; or, the Fire Ships: A Story of the Last Naval War by Kingston
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34489  Antony Waymouth; Or, The Gentlemen Adventurers by William Henry Giles Kingston
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40689   Off to Sea: The Adventures of Jovial Jack Junker on his Road to Fame by Kingston


Enjoy Ed

Thank you Mike. You'd headed off a bad purchase.

Yes, it is not StewMac, that is why I was giving a link to avoid confusion. But should have been more clear.
Well, for all the good purchases I did recently, there should be a bad one as well!

Pat: In your search (the site's search engine is not the best!), try things like 'diagonal planking model','diagonal planking plan' or even just 'diagonal'.

Thanks Druxey.  I have trawled the NMM several times but you seem to know your way around much better than me (I wonder why )  I think I will just need to slowly go through the whole collection.  That is getting fairly close, I just need to exchange the iron frames for the diagonal  planking with Lang's Plan of ironwork.  Pity they did not mention the ship class or name as I could then locate the associated plans (hopefully he says
 
appreciate this
 
cheers
 
Pat

In the case of parallelogram-shaped ports, the lid hinges were arranged to pivot in a horizontal plane. One hinge's axis would be located slightly higher above the upper edge of the port. Thus the lid could open and shut without binding.

I agree with, Daniel. For a ship of the later 18th century, Druxey is right. For a dutch ship of the 17th century option d is also possible.

I am pretty sure that the gun ports are parallelograms.
The frames define the sides and the deck decides the
sill and lentil. 
 
If you look at framing diagrams of
English warships of the 18th c and 19th c you will
see that they used some fairly elaborate positioning
to shift their frames so that whole timbers made up
the sides.  From my observations, the French and
Americans rolled the dice and cut into the timbers to
get the gun ports where they wanted them. Or let
the frames define the gun port location.

Usually the sides of the ports were vertical, as you have in 'C'. However, depending on the ship, if there were drag (floating lower at the stern than bow) the ports would appear as if 'leaning' backwards. The frames were normally set upright on the keel, the sides of the frames forming the sides of the ports.

Not sure which one of B, C or D is correct....
 
 A...Deck line parallel to water line...Ok, thats easy. Just a square.
 
In cases B, C and D, the deck line not parallel to W.L.
 
 B is like A....the left and right sides vertical to the Water Line, up and down parallel to the W.L.
 C has left and right sides vertical to the Water Line, up and down parallel to the Deck....Not a square. No right angles.
 D is a square with left and right sides "vertical" to the Deck Line, up and down "parallel" to the Deck Line.
 
Think D is the correct one, not sure though........
 
Any Advice pls?
 
Thanks,
Mike.
 

So far I've invested approximately 4 hours over the last few days in this build. I started with the main turrets ... still going on turret number 1
 
1st clean up the plastic base

 
2nd add the brass (1 piece of railing has not yet been glued, 2 pieces more to add)

 
All the brass on top, and at the fore, are not in the Pontos set. So far it is just FlyHawk PE
 

How do I try to make easy the location of a part in the space.
 
 I trace a line in the middle of  the part. This line represent the high points and helps to lead the direction of the part.  This way it prevents the part to deviate too much on a side or the other side.
 
I repeat for the 4 sides : top, bottom and both sides.
 
Examples with the drawing and the front of the legs. Results would be as good if I would trace the line as the green arrow shows.
 
The exact same principle apply to relief carving which is more a 2D  parts, rather than  a 3D parts. In this case, only 1 line is required.
If we cut the carving and  look at one end, we see a square. A line is trace at the top, it represents once again the high point of the part. Then, to carve it is just a matter to knock out the 2 top corners.
 
In an easy way, 3D carving is just adding sides and bottom to the 2D.

I needed a background  for the pen kit I bought and I turned a briar tube, sanded with fine paper and applied  pure bee wax while the tube was still on the lathe.

The serach for the lighting continues.
 
In the last months I searched a way to synchronize 2 kinds of flash  lighting. There are few information on internet, each company makes his own transmitter and very few want to mix  with other companies. But it is possible synchronize the 2 different kinds of flash I use. 
 
3 speedlites flashes installed on or  separate from a camera  and  2 strobes lighting on a light stand. Each system has his own transmitter and the solution is to find a way to fire all the flashes at the same time. Finally the solution is very easy and there is no need to buy any additionnal transmitter like Pocket wizard and this event if they said so in a video sponsorised by Pocket wizard.
 
The Canon speedlites are all synchronized in 1 group to flash at the same time. The other kind of strobes from Profoto  have a cell that detects the flash from Canon:  so they all can fire at the same time.
 
Last week, I went in a photography equipement show and I brought back a continuous  LED lighting. I measured it to compare with the other  lighting I have. It is even better than the best Lamp I have: 25,000 lux at 12 inches. The best Lamp I have is a Xenon light 19,800 lux at 12 inches and the worst I have are 3 halogens with 500 lux.
 
So if you want a good lighting to see every thing, this is the way to go.
 

Hi
 

 
This was waiting for me when I arrived home yesterday, finally I will be able o keep things squared.
 
As for the black paper on the frames, the double frames they are sturdy enough ( if the one I built can be used as an example) the simple ones might be a ploblem. I used the paper because I read somewhere that they used tar or pitch on the frame joints, but now I can't find it, will have to go through the books again...

Thanks for the info on the torches Ed and Druxey
 
Here is a shot of the little stand for the torch, the base is 2 1/2 inch diameter x 5/8 thick steel round, the upright is 1/4 diam brass with a 5/8 lee valley magnet on the top attached with a 3/4" flat head 8x32 allen head cap screw
 
I added a small right angled steel catch plate to the torch, salvaged from a baseplate from some defunct electronic equipment.  The plate is pinched between the black handle and the head section and is the same as the plate that comes with the commercial stand.
 

 
Now I have to finish up the soldering station.....one thing just seems to lead to another. 
 
Michael
 
 

I, too, use the small rechargeable butane torch seen in the photo on the right. I have also used an oxy/propane torch with interchangeable tips in a jeweler's studio. For larger pieces this will provide more even heating more rapidly.

Hello Micheal,
 
It is true that you get very fast, high heat with O2.  My problem is often too much heat on small wire parts, so of course it all depends on the work.  Below is a picture of my old and new torches.  The one on the left attached to the propane cylinder is no longer available from what I can determine.  The popular, rechargeable, butane self-starter on the right is very common.  It is widely sold for kitchen use as well as for soldering.  It is very convenient to use.
 

 
Ed
 

Nice job! Brass looks very nice on your wheel.

Don,
 
Bravo.
 
Your ships wheel is simply exquisite.  Love the paint job and the detail on your deck furniture too.

Hello all just a small update, Thanks to all for stopping in, for your likes and great comments.
 I finally got the courage up to cut all the holes in the deck and I must say all went good, and I also finished up my ships wheel.
 Not much to be said the pictures say it all. the cuts were made with a 1 mm end mill bit then finished with a file.
 The very first picture shows the outline for the aft hatch which I spent considerable time measuring, marking and double checking..............even though it was perfectly square and centred I had to erase all of it as this is the bow     . Things got better after this, glad I didn't start to cut. The deck has one coat of poly now on it and will get two or three more
Enjoy
 









 
 
 All deck furniture and masts are just sitting in their places, nothing is permanently fixed yet.
 
Have a Good Evening