John Allen

Loading crane
 
Somehow I seem to move two steps forward and then one step back again. For one part completed there are several that jump off the table to be never found again or that are destroyed during subsequent steps of manipulation ...
Mechanically, the loading crane is a relatively simple affair, a rope winding drum driven through a pinion and cog-wheel, powered by a hand-crank, and for turning a worm-wheel drive equally powerd by a hand-crank. The console on which the crane rests is a quite complex part that was bolted together from several cast parts.

The loading crane on the demonstration model in the former Naval Museum in Copenhagen
 

The winding mechanism of the charging crane
 
My first thought was to mill the console from the solid or rather to solder it together from several milled parts. I finally decided to put the laser-cutter to work and fabricate it from several cardboard pieces. On the bottom line, this was the easiest solution and compatible with the rest of the under-carriage
The crane on the demonstration model in Copenhagen mainly consists of bright pieces of steel or cast-iron. Whether this was the case too originally on the prototype cannot be verified anymore, as no detail photographs exist. It is perhaps doubtful due to the continuous maintenance required to keep rust at bay. Although, the navy was not concerned about camouflage at that time, they were aware of the risk of early detection by the enemy due to bright metal part reflecting the sun. However, I allowed myself the artisanal-aesthetic license of bright metal, as I think it will be a nice contrast to the dark green of the gun carriage later.
The actual crane was milled from a 2.5 mm steel rod. To this end the thickness profiles in both dimensions were taken off the original drawings and ‚stretched’ out straight in the CAD software. After milling, the part was softened in the flame, so that it could be bent according to the drawing. The hole and slot for the pulley were machined afterwards, as the part could break there during bending. The final shaping was done with silicone-bound grinding bits.
 

Milling of the crane in the dividing apparatus
 
 
Pulleys and forks form them are tiny parts machined on the lathe and the milling machine.

Fork for the lower guiding pulley
 
The mechanism of the crane consists of a good dozen of lathe-turned parts, that were, apart from their minute size, were not particularly challenging.
The cog-wheel, the pinion, and the worm-wheel were turned together with their axes in one piece. On the photographs I counted 60 teeth on the large wheel, which gives, together with a diameter of 3 mm a module of 0.05. Making a single tooth mill seem to be too much work, so that I took the short-cut of just gashing the wheels with a 0.1 mm thick circular saw. It is only about the look and I did not intend to make these gears functional. Hobbing a worm-wheel of just 1 mm diameter was too big of a challenge, big of a challenge, but at least I tilted the axis 20° when gashing it.
 

 

 

Milling of the pinion and the cog-wheel
 



Partly assembled loading crane
 
The final assembly can only be done, once the crane-console has been attached to the carriage and the whole thing is painted.
 
 
To be continued ...

LOU,
 
Looking good, light at the end of the tunnel.
By the way thanks for the life check  instead of a knock on a neighbors door a phone call. No answer check obits, answer still kicking unless you get a recording then go back to the obits. Ain't technology grand.
Get the Huey done.

LOU,
 
Looking good, light at the end of the tunnel.
By the way thanks for the life check  instead of a knock on a neighbors door a phone call. No answer check obits, answer still kicking unless you get a recording then go back to the obits. Ain't technology grand.
Get the Huey done.

LOU,
 
Looking good, light at the end of the tunnel.
By the way thanks for the life check  instead of a knock on a neighbors door a phone call. No answer check obits, answer still kicking unless you get a recording then go back to the obits. Ain't technology grand.
Get the Huey done.

LOU,
 
Looking good, light at the end of the tunnel.
By the way thanks for the life check  instead of a knock on a neighbors door a phone call. No answer check obits, answer still kicking unless you get a recording then go back to the obits. Ain't technology grand.
Get the Huey done.

LOU,
 
Looking good, light at the end of the tunnel.
By the way thanks for the life check  instead of a knock on a neighbors door a phone call. No answer check obits, answer still kicking unless you get a recording then go back to the obits. Ain't technology grand.
Get the Huey done.

LOU,
 
Looking good, light at the end of the tunnel.
By the way thanks for the life check  instead of a knock on a neighbors door a phone call. No answer check obits, answer still kicking unless you get a recording then go back to the obits. Ain't technology grand.
Get the Huey done.

LOU,
 
Looking good, light at the end of the tunnel.
By the way thanks for the life check  instead of a knock on a neighbors door a phone call. No answer check obits, answer still kicking unless you get a recording then go back to the obits. Ain't technology grand.
Get the Huey done.

The release gear was not only used in an emergency, but any time the anchor was let go. The first step is to lower the bottom end of the anchor, so that it swings freely, suspended from the chain on the cat-head. That chain is shackled on one side to the cat-head and on the other side is put over a pivoting pin. How that works is best illustrated by a drawing in Longridges book;

From: LONGRIDGE, C.N. (1933): The Cutty Sark.- 440 p., Kings Langley/Herts. (Model and Allied Publications, reprint 1975).
 
In the above drawing the releasing lever is shown in the closed position. When it is pulled towards the viewer, the pin is free to rotate and the catting chain can slip off the pin.
In the 1980s I took some pictures on board of CUTTY SARK and the mechanism looked exactly like that. Unfortunately, my slides are not accessible at the moment, so that I could not make a scan.

OK here is proof that I have not just been letting my poor Huey just sit in the hanger and languish from lack of attention.
 
First off when I left you last I was not all that happy about the PE shoulder harness straps on the pilot. I am pretty sure they would have looked OK laying on an empty seat, but for what I have in mind on this build, having a crew is necessary. While I was somewhat reluctant to totally backtrack on the pilot I also didn't want to repeat the same thing on the co-pilot. So I went  to the first aid box and pilled out a roll of surgical tape and cut a strip the same width as the PE belts and applied them to the shoulders of the co-pilot and behind the seat. Not only did it go MUCH faster than the PE had but after painting I think it looks much better. Here is a rear view of the First Class Cabin to show how it turned out.

Still not perfect but nothing in this build is.
 
Next I went to the Padded Cell and did a bunch of other final installs. It does not look like I did much but it is proving that mixing kit and aftermarket stuff comes back and bites you. Nothing fits exactly as it should and has to be customized taking three times as long.

It also looks like there is a lot of dust and stuff from filing and cutting that I need to clean off.
 
Then I cut off the kit overhead console and glued on the aftermarket piece. This will almost be invisible in the finished model but the aftermarket is MUCH more accurate.

Here is how it will look in place:

I kept the kit foot pedals, not because they were better, as they were not, but after trimming down the foot bars considerably they fit the best and were a perfect fit for the pilot's feet. In all other respects they are FAR too thick and out of scale. I did break the pilot's cyclic stick trying to get it cut off properly to fit the handle that was built into his hand, so I had to take a piece of brass rod and bend a new stick and glue it into place. You can just see the bottom between his legs. I still need to paint it.
 
I then went ahead and put the first coat on the fuselage. Not certain if it was the exact color I was looking for but I have a lot of stuff I have learned from looking at your guys builds that I of course am now obligated to at least try out. If it all fails, then I guess there is always Super Clean or failing that brake fluid and chlorine. 
 
So here are a couple of other pictures to close out this update. None of it is glued in place but it looks at least a little like progress.
 

 
Thanks for looking in 
 

Am impressed, one of the best in awhile. Attention to details excellent Kudos on a masterful build.
 
If you made her a little bigger could have added cotton bales, cattle and Minstrels playing at the dock that would have been a real hair puller, all kidding aside 1st class build.

Been a long road, flags are the cherry on the cake. Kudos on a wonderful build.
 
I couldn't put my little buddy next to any of my builds, he's a canine chain saw turn your back and you have toothpicks.
 
Looking forward to more pics.

Been a long road, flags are the cherry on the cake. Kudos on a wonderful build.
 
I couldn't put my little buddy next to any of my builds, he's a canine chain saw turn your back and you have toothpicks.
 
Looking forward to more pics.

Been a long road, flags are the cherry on the cake. Kudos on a wonderful build.
 
I couldn't put my little buddy next to any of my builds, he's a canine chain saw turn your back and you have toothpicks.
 
Looking forward to more pics.

Been a long road, flags are the cherry on the cake. Kudos on a wonderful build.
 
I couldn't put my little buddy next to any of my builds, he's a canine chain saw turn your back and you have toothpicks.
 
Looking forward to more pics.

Been a long road, flags are the cherry on the cake. Kudos on a wonderful build.
 
I couldn't put my little buddy next to any of my builds, he's a canine chain saw turn your back and you have toothpicks.
 
Looking forward to more pics.

Kieth,
 
Your metal work is almost supernatural kudos. I read somewhere about human osmosis. From what I read we need to meet do a fist bump and your skills will be transferred to me by human altering osmosis.
 
Bad thing is my ineptitude in certain aspects of modeling may be transferred to you.
 
Good thought bad idea.

Quite an achievement, Keith: 96 holes, no drill breakage and no evidence of the drill bit wandering either! Well done.

Thanks, John. All kidding aside, we actually know a lot about her cargo as it was almost all salvaged and is on display (or still being catalogued and cleaned) at the museum in Kansas City. She was carrying a lot of whiskey (hence all my barrels) and tons of crates of frontier supplies (nails, boots, tools, farm implements, etc.). She was heading upriver when she sank; any agricultural products would have been carried on a downriver trip. Some cotton was grown in central Missouri, along with other plantation crops like tobacco and hemp; this region was (and still is) referred to as "Little Dixie" given that it had the highest antebellum concentration of slaves and plantations anywhere in the state and was decidedly more Southern than elsewhere; you can still find huge plantation-style houses along the Missouri River in this area.

Am impressed, one of the best in awhile. Attention to details excellent Kudos on a masterful build.
 
If you made her a little bigger could have added cotton bales, cattle and Minstrels playing at the dock that would have been a real hair puller, all kidding aside 1st class build.

Am impressed, one of the best in awhile. Attention to details excellent Kudos on a masterful build.
 
If you made her a little bigger could have added cotton bales, cattle and Minstrels playing at the dock that would have been a real hair puller, all kidding aside 1st class build.

Am impressed, one of the best in awhile. Attention to details excellent Kudos on a masterful build.
 
If you made her a little bigger could have added cotton bales, cattle and Minstrels playing at the dock that would have been a real hair puller, all kidding aside 1st class build.

Am impressed, one of the best in awhile. Attention to details excellent Kudos on a masterful build.
 
If you made her a little bigger could have added cotton bales, cattle and Minstrels playing at the dock that would have been a real hair puller, all kidding aside 1st class build.

She's looking excellent, Cathead!