leclaire

Your comment re IP's made me scratch my head for a minute. Then it dawned on me that it been a little over 50 years since I got my butt chewed for having a couple of those on my uniform. Funny how I remembered that but can't seem to recall what I had for dinner last night.
 
Bob

Don't forget emery boards of various sizes for use in sanding. I get mine by raiding the admirals stash when she is not looking. 
 
Bob

IP ?
 
... and I always tried to find a use idea for those 'pizza-savers' - thanks for the tip, Bob. Tha'ts a modeller's mind: whenever he comes across 'something', he thinks, how it could be used in the workshop.

Don't forget emery boards of various sizes for use in sanding. I get mine by raiding the admirals stash when she is not looking. 
 
Bob

Don't forget emery boards of various sizes for use in sanding. I get mine by raiding the admirals stash when she is not looking. 
 
Bob

Don't forget emery boards of various sizes for use in sanding. I get mine by raiding the admirals stash when she is not looking. 
 
Bob

Don't forget emery boards of various sizes for use in sanding. I get mine by raiding the admirals stash when she is not looking. 
 
Bob

Brian, I remember changing the rod bearings in my 46 Chevy pickup out on the curb in Arlington when it was 11 degrees. We drove down from Washington State to visit my folks. I also remember another time driving on two inches of ice coming back from a business trip to Louisiana. Texas winter weather can turn deadly when the Polar Express drops down through Amarillo. Plus you can get a tornado or two in the Spring and 115 degree heat in the summer..........now I remember why I left Texas!  

Little more done on her. 

Coming along nicely.
About the mast, probably yes. If not tapered it will look like a telephone post I'm afraid. Take a google tour over the web and look for motor boats with masts, like older fishing boats or more modern long distance motor boats. That will give you an idea of how masts are shaped generally.

The Chopper in its various iterations works great on thin plastic and wood. I have 3 and like the one Ryland showed, since I can replace the cutting surface. Older ones were more likely to get gouged out under the blade. Cutting much over 1/8 inch thick stock, the razor blade deforms, marring the cut. I've done better with a low sided miter box, in conjunction with a razor saw, to make good standard angle cuts. If you need different angles, you may have to cut those angles into your miter box or make up separate cutting fixtures to cut those special angles. We're all tool junkies to a lesser or a greater degree, but sometimes KISS comes into play, too.

That she definitely is a beast. For some reason I was thinking it was smaller than that. I can see where she would take up a lot of space, especially if the oars were in set and ready to row. But you really want to at least put the mast in place, otherwise you’re going to miss out on all the fun rigging. 😜
 
-Brian

Getting some base colour down and generally detailing.  Barrels a bit too weathered. Will tonne them down. But general colours for the boat seems pretty good.

Hey, that is great! Thanks Kurt, very much appreciated.
 
This is exactly why this is such a terrific site, all the support everyone gives each other.
 
Bob

Very nice work Brian, well worth the wait to see it. 
 
cheers
 
Pat

Great choice on the color. I certainly believe that, when fact is uncertain (and sometimes even when it isn’t), there’s room for artistry that improves a model’s visual appeal. After all, looking at it is part of the point!

Few more bits and pieces added. 
Testing paint colours . Please with these so far. 

Greetings again all, hope everyone had a great New Years.
 
It's been a bit since my last update. Since Christmas things have been a little slow on the build and I have not had a whole lot of post worthy work to show.
 
I did however get a few things accomplished recently. One of them being completion of the forward casemates.

 

 
Also complete were the starboard side interior walls.

 

 
Next I started work on some of the forward deck features. First were the bollards.

 

 
Next were the forward bulwarks and fairleads.

 
I have found that spare deadeyes make perfect rollers on the fairleads. 

 

 

 
Next up were the aft bollards.

 

 

 

 
 
After extensive research and several info requests, I came up empty on my search for hull color. I finally made the decision that I am going to take my builders liberties with this and paint the hull something other than black. During my research I came across build after build and model after model of Ironclads that had some type of red color on the hull below the waterline. Unfortunately no info exists on whether or not the Cairo had a painted hull, so my choice is to paint it. I tried several different colors before deciding on a reddish-brown red oxide color. I wanted something that would break up the mostly black paint scheme of the casemates and armor plating, but something that would not stick out like a sore thumb.  Many of the examples that I ran across the builders used a bright red paint, much like many of the modern day anti fouling reds that are used today. I just felt this would not have been the case and went with a more subdued color that will separate the black, but still maintain some of the boats stealthy-ness. 
 
Here is the color I came up with. As always, comments are definitely welcome. It may not look like much now, but as soon as I get the black paint on it, I think it will blend in nicely.

 
 
Next was the completion of the cannon carriages. 
 
Here are the six large carriages. I had some leftover red from the hull, so I decided to use it on the carriages to. This way it transfers some of the color to the inside of the boat as well.

 
Large carriages completed

 
And all thirteen carriages completed.

 
I had started turning down the cannons, but I was having trouble getting them to come out looking the same. After several attempts I finally conceded defeat and decided to take a different approach. I was speaking with one of my uncles who used to be a machinist and still has some connections at his old shop that could 'hook me up" with some turned brass ones. All I need to do was to send him the dimensions and plans for them and he would take care of them for me. So this is the route that I am taking. Hopefully the truest out there won't look down on me for cheating a bit, but I just don't think that my skills on the lathe are there yet.
 
In the meantime, I built me a mockup of one of the gun ports for rigging the cannons and I set up my first attempted carriage and one of my failed turned wooden barrels in it. This will allow me to rig everything up with easy access and then all I have to do is transfer it to the model. Should provide me with a lot more room to work instead the close confines of the gun deck.

 

 

 

 
Everything is ready to go for the rigging, I'm just waiting on my order of blocks and rope from Chuck over at Syren Ship Company to come in and I'll make my first attempt at getting the cannons rigged up.
 
Well that is it for this update, hopefully it won't be so long before the next one.
 
Thanks again for the likes and for stopping by. Everyone please stay safe.
 
-Brian

Sorry guys took a long time to finally display the result. Thank you very much for the hints. Tried to do it with the truckers hitch but it was too small to succeed. So I just did some improvisation with square knots and seizings:
 

 

I have an old Champaign bottle - nice and heavy.  Fill it with water and soak plank for 2-3 minutes and if it needs more to bend use a hair dryer to heat it - clamp in place and glue down when dry. 

You might PM Betaqdave (who is a wheelchair user) here on MSW.  He had several posts about how he set up his workshop.  

The slow detail work.

A little more .

Trying to show each step of build. Planking glued ready to fit . Barrels on the way to make sure the barrel slide is correct. Loads of detail for such a small boat ☺️



 

Little bit more this W/e.