herask

Thank you Albert, Louie, Cog and EJ_L,
your kind words are always good for a poor modeler´s soul.
Thanks also for the likes.
 
For a year I am working on the five boats for the French corvette.
Now they are ready and here at the end some pictures of all five.
I hope you like them.

 

 

Hi,
thanks for the very nice comments,
and to all other for the LIKES!
 
Now the time has come.
The cutters are finalized.
To this end, a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

Hello,
thanks for the encouragement, one and all!
Here is the continuation:
 
The first image shows all installation parts of the cutters.

 
On the next two images all built boats can be seen that I have built for the French corvette.
Only thing missing is the gig.

 

Hello,
thanks for the recognition of my work.
A couple of days later i can show you new results.
I hope you like my progress to the section model.
Looks now the pictures:

 

 

 

 

 
 

Hello Friends,
many thanks for your nice comments. This is the motivation for the next work.
 
Here is the continuation of the construction of the gun ports lids.
Based on the following pictures the next steps are clear.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello friends,
thank you for the kind words.
Meanwhile I have already mounted 4 carronades.  
 

Hello,
 
many thanks for the nice comments.
 
Today I will show how the target device of the carronade is made.
The pictures illustrate the process.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello,
I show here a few impressions of the carronades:

 

 
 
 

Hi Alex,
 
I am very pleased about your nice comment.
 
Here is an update of the report:
 
Completion of the fittings for the carronades.
So now the fittings are manufactured for the carronades. For assembling the brass parts still need to be blacked.
In the following picture you can see almost all the parts to build a Carronade.
 
All parts are now neatly sorted in a plastic box, ready for final assembly. Thus, over 50 items come together for a Carronade. For 20 carronades which means about 1000 parts.

Hello,
more pictures of the construction progress of the carronades:

 

 
Here the rings for breech rope are made:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Hello Dear Friends,
thank you very much for your comments, I appreciate them a lot.
The bow section of the French corvette was completed.
Here you can see the bow, with the now mounted equipment parts.
You can see also the figurehead in some pics.

 

 

 

 
The small seawater pump on the bow was, among other things for the hygiene of the crew on board.
See the LINK.

 

Hello,
thank you for your comments, Gyula.
 
There are some pictures illustrating the macking of guns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
So thats it for now, hope you like them.
 

Hello dear friends,
I appreciate your nice comments and thank you very much for your nice words.
Today I will explain the process for preparing grids for the skylights.
Therefore please note the following pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello dear friends,
 
here I show you pictures of manufacture of the steering wheel.
I hope that it is interesting for you.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Goodbye, see you soon.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hello,
to build the capstan, was another challenge.
The first attempt was unsuccessful. So I started a second attempt.
The following figures show the manufacturing process.
  
 
    
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
     
 

 
 
 
Be continued ...

 

I'd like to thank everyone for looking in, for the 'likes' and especially for taking the time to comment.  
 
I'm currently doing some planning for one of my next projects - a sectional model of the Dunbrody.  Also in the plans is a scratch build of the Skipjack Kathryn - a pretty unique oyster dredging workboat from the Chesapeake Bay.  I'm hoping to work on both of those projects concurrently.  To pull off both of these builds I'll need to develop some drafting skills, so it will be a little while before I start build logs for those.
 
In the meantime, here are some photos of the finished Paragon, from various angles:
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                                
 
                               
 
                               
 

Part 8 – Frames, cont’d
 
Framing Kathryn has been continuing – albeit slowly.  There have been a lot of other activities interfering with the modeling work, so there hasn’t been as much progress as I would have liked.
 
It quickly became apparent that the model’s frames are very delicate, and some additional steps were needed to strengthen them.  This resulted in some additional structures that are not in the actual boat, but these structures will be hidden by planking and shouldn’t cause any issues.
 
The first such structure was the addition of a reinforcing plate at the joint between the frame floor and the frame side.  This plate was added after the chine had been shaped and the glued-on drawing removed.  After the glue attaching the plate to the frame had dried, the plate was then sanded to match the curve of the chine.  The following photo shows one of these plates in place.
 

 
The individual frames are only attached to the keelson with a minimal glue joint, so individually these frames are very easy to disturb.  By tying the frames together the frame assembly would be much stronger.  I decided to tie them together by using 1/8 x 1/8 stock, cut to match the distance between frames at the keelson.  Since this distance varies from frame to frame, the braces needed to be measure individually.  They are then installed at approximately the midpoint of the frame floor to join the frames together.
 
The first frame installed – frame 12 – was held perpendicular to the keelson by the c-clamps shown in the following photo, and then the subsequent frames were joined to that frame via the braces.  The c-clamps were left in place until the first 4 frames were joined and the glue set. 
 

 
The first 4 frames were very stable after the glue had cured, and didn’t need to be held in place for installation of bracing for subsequent frames.  It was easier to use the long-nosed spring clamps for this work, rather than the miniature machinist clamps used in the prior photo.
 

 
As described in the prior post, structural bolts would be used to fully secure the frames to the keelson, and pilot holes for these bolts were drilled as part of the construction of the frames.
 
After the installation of the first six square frames (12 through 17) was completed, it was time to insert the first set of structural bolts.  The model was removed from the shipway and placed in an adjustable keel clamp.  This clamp was positioned so that the pilot holes were visible. 
 

 
This allowed drilling through the pilot holes and into the keelson, as in the following photo.  Pieces of 3/64 brass rod were then epoxied into these holes to serve as structural bolts.
 

 
While the model was in the clamp, the forward edges of the mortises for the cant frames were angled to allow the cant frames to be properly positioned.  This work was performed with a diamond bit in a rotary tool.
 

 
The middle 8 square frames are now in place.  Since each half of a frame is a separate installation, this is the equivalent of 16 frames having been installed.
 

 
The frames installed so far have not needed any dubbing (shaping) to allow the planks to lay flat against them.  The remaining seven square frames in the rear of the model will need shaping.  In addition, the forward eleven frames are cant frames, which will require a modified installation procedure.  These topics will be covered in the next post.
 
Thanks everyone! 

Part 7 – Frames


 
 
The HAER documentation says that Kathryn’s frames are ‘highly irregular’, rather than giving dimensions.  After measuring the frames in several of the drawings I decided to use a sided dimension of 4” and a moulded dimension starting at 5” at the sheer and increasing to 8” for most frames.  This makes the frames of the model 1/8” thick, and varying from just over 1/8” to ¼” in the moulded dimension.  All frames are single frames, so on the model they will be quite fragile until supported by the interior and exterior planking and other components.
 
 
Since Kathryn’s sides and bottom are flat, there are no curves to contend with in the frames – other than the rounded chine.  The following is the drawing for frame 12 – the forward-most square frame:
 
 

 
Pin-indexing is used to ensure the pieces of the frame line up with the drawing.  EdT in his Young America build log gives a good description of pin-indexing, and I also included it in my Dunbrody build log, so I won’t go into a lot of detail here.
 
Individual frame pieces as well as the pinning template for the frame are marked using a prick punch
 
 

 
And are then drilled using the Sensitive Drilling Attachment on the milling machine.
 
 

 
The frame pieces are then trimmed to the printed lines using the disk sander.
 
 

 
The frames will be very delicate, and there won’t be much glue surface keeping the frame components together or keeping them attached to the keelson, so some additional reinforcing is required.  The frames will eventually be secured to the keelson with structural bolts, and the joint of the frame pieces will be reinforced by dowels, so pilot holes need to be drilled.  The holes for the structural bolts are at an approximate 45 degree angle, so these holes need to be started with a center drill as shown in the following photo.
 
 

 
The pilot holes are then drilled in the frame components.
 
 

 
The drill used for pin indexing is a #63 drill, and the best approach is to use the sensitive drilling attachment for this drilling.  However, the drill used for pilot holes for the reinforcing bolts and dowels is a #55, and the best approach for this drilling is to use the z-axis hand-wheel to get sufficient force in the drilling.  This would normally mean constant changing of drills and chucks, but I’m fortunate to have another solution in my shop.
 
 
I’ve tried miniature drill presses, but have not been happy with the ‘less expensive’ options (less expensive until an x-y table is added).  Recently, Sherline offered a discount on the milling column for the lathe.  This attachment serves very nicely as a second drilling station (or mill if necessary), so I now have the sensitive drilling attachment with the #63 drill in the milling machine, and a chuck with a #55 drill in the milling column on the lathe and have no need to change drills or chucks in the middle of the process.
 
 

 
Constructing the frame consists of aligning the pieces by laying the bottom piece on top of the side piece (using the pins for alignment)
 
 

 
Then using a hobby knife to mark the joint on the side piece of the frame.
 
 

 
After the side piece is trimmed to fit using the disk sander, the pieces are then glued in place and left to cure.
 
 

 
When the gluing is completed, the hole for the reinforcing dowel is drilled into the side piece of the frame.
 
 

 
The dowel is glued into the frame and clipped off.
 
 

 
Since the frames are mortised into the keelson on each side, aligning the frame on the keelson requires that each side is aligned separately to allow for possible mis-alignment of the mortises.  A jig is used for this purpose.  This is the same jig that was used to align the Dunbrody frames.
 
 

 
In addition to the jig, a template for the frame, consisting of the frame drawing cemented onto a flat piece of 1/16” thick basswood, is clamped to the framing jig and aligned with the centerline.
 
 

 

 
 
The frame piece is clamped to the framing template while the glue attaching the frame half to the keelson cures.
 
 

 
 
The same process is followed for the opposite side of the frame.  The following photo shows the first frame (#12) installed.  Only 25 frames to go.
 
 

 
One last item:  I wanted a modeling setup that would allow me to work on all sides of the build without turning the shipway.  It would also be ideal if I could raise or lower the model depending on what was being worked on at the time.  I was able to find an adjustable table in IKEA – known as a Skarsta sit/stand table.  Using a simple hand crank, the table extends from a minimum height of 27.5”
 
 

 
to a maximum height of 47.25”
 
 

 
 
My old back is very grateful for the working height!!
 
 

 
 
Thanks everyone (and thank you IKEA!)!

Part 4 – The Keelson – cont’d


 
I should have mentioned wood selection in the prior post.  Kathryn has a mixture of oak and pine, with the oak being used primarily in structural components.  The HAER documentation does a good job of identifying the type of wood used for each component.  I’m using madrone (very similar to pear) for the components made of oak, and castello for the pine components.  Madrone normally is fairly pink, like pear, but my current stock of madrone is much paler than what I’ve used in the past.


 
The centerboard slot is cut through both the keelson and the keel, so the first task was to add the keel in the area of the centerboard slot.


 
The oak keel is very thin from the bow through the area of the centerboard slot – only 3” thick.  Since the thickness is consistent in this area a single piece could be milled.  The following photo shows this keel piece being glued in place.


 

 

The milling cutter would not mill the entire depth of the slot from the top of the keelson – the keelson would need to be flipped for completion of the slot.  Pilot holes were drilled through the keelson at each end of the slot location – this enabled proper location of the slot when the keelson was flipped.


 
The following photo shows the centerboard slot being milled.


 


The mast step in Kathryn is actually a longitudinal mortise, so this was also milled at this time.  The following photo of the completed keelson shows the centerboard slot and the mortise for the mast step.


 

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I need to admit that I cut the centerboard slot too far forward after misreading one of the various marks I had made on the keelson.  The end of the centerboard slot was in the proper place, so this was easily corrected by inserting a small plug in the forward end of the slot – as seen in the following photo.


 

 

Kathryn’s bow consists of an inner stem, and outer stem, and the cutwater.  All of these components will be made of oak.  The inner stem sits on the keelson, and is supported by a stem knee.


 
The inner stem needed to be shaped so that it inclines at the same angle as the forward edge of the keelson.  I was also concerned about the inner stem being sufficiently secure, so a tenon was formed on the stem and a corresponding mortise was cut in the keelson, as shown in the following photos.


 
 

 

I was also concerned about attaching the outer stem, which will lie against the inner stem, so 2 pilot holes were drilled in the inner stem for aligning the outer stem in a later step.  These holes needed to be fairly horizontal, so the inner stem was held in the milling vise at the approximate angle of installation.  A centering drill was used to assist in drilling at that angle.


 

 

Once the centering drill started the hole, a #60 drill was used to complete the drilling.


 
 

 

The setup for gluing the inner stem to the keelson was a little unusual, since it was necessary to ensure that the inner stem and the forward face of the keelson stayed in the proper alignment.  A parallel bar was set in a vice for this alignment, and the keelson/stem knee combination was aligned with the bar.  A square was also used to ensure that the stem knee stayed vertical on the keelson.  The clamping setup can be seen in the following photo.


 

 

The following photo shows the keelson with the inner stem knee installed.


 

 


 
The next work will include the installation of the stem knee and completion of the keel assembly.


 

dry assembly of the keel, long process of adjust and check
last picture beginning of assembly

Just an update on progress on the Eagle. I have been putting quite a bit of time into researching the rigging configuration for the model. Dr. Crisman has a fuzzy hand drawing of how he thinks the ship's Rigging Profile would have looked. For my purposes, I need to drill down to much further details. My model will not have sails but there will be a combination of standing and running rigging on the model.
 
I am using several references. The American ships were rigged following most, if not all the basic rules used for British Ship's of War. This makes things much cleaner. Given the expediency with which the Eagle was built (19 days) there were in all likelihood shortcuts in some of this. There certainly was with the hull construction. However, following these guidelines along with Crisman's expert opinions should give a good approximation of the ship as she sailed to battle. Here is a list of the reference material I am using in this effort.=
 
Crisman's The Eagle Steel's Elements of Mastmaking, Sailmaking and Rigging Lee's Masting and Rigging of English Ship's of War Lennarth Petersson's Rigging Period Ship Models David Antscherl's Swan Vol 4, Rigging a Sixth Rate Sloop (while much earlier than the Eagle, it is a valuable treatise on actually rigging a model The first order of business was to attempt to identify those lines shown in Crisman's drawing and record these on a new CAD drawing (I am attempting to do) of the rigged ship. I also had an email discussion with Ed Tosti asking his advice on approaching designing a detailed rigging profile. His sage advice was to develop a detailed spreadsheet that would capture all the lines as well as the details around them, i.e., size of rope, serving, color, blocks etc.
 
I found that the Petersson book was great in identifying lines typical to that period. I used this in conjunction with the Crisman drawing to develop a list of those lines I would be installing. This could then be cross referenced with the Steel and Lee volumes to flesh out the details.
 
One key aspect of this is deciding the size of the ship itself. Steel has a table for sizing ship's based on the number of guns on board. I will be using the 20 to 22 gun tables. There is a difference in line and block sizing between Steel and Lee. Steel's number tend to be slightly larger in both line circumference and blocks. However, there is also inconsistency in these tables that Lee's smooths out using common block sizing ratios. However, this does not answer which method to use. There was nothing left of the rigging in the wreck other than the lower chainplates and mast steps. However there was an inventory list for the supplies sold from Whitehall during the sell off of the Lake Champlain fleet and supplies in 1825. While circumstantial at best, it does point to those supplies that were common in the fleet. The sizes of running rigging and blocks falls more neatly into the Steel tables than Lee's So I feel comfortable using these.
 
I have compiled my list of lines, but have only started working on fleshing out the spreadsheet. This will be an on-going project I will be doing in conjunction with completing the masting and spars for the ship. 
 
I had built a manual serving machine when rigging the Connie (1:92). However at 1:48 the Eagle will show much more detail in the rigging and require much more serving to be done than I wanted to do on my old manual machine. In preparation for this, I purchased Alexey Dumanoff's powered serving machine. It seems like a great machine and I can't wait to put it into service. It will be a great match for the Byrnes ropewalk.
 
I also have been putting in time actually making sawdust (and brass shavings). The photos below show the ship where she stands. I have been playing with my Grizzly Milling machine trying to develop the skills to actually use it well. More on that later. For this update, I used it to build the upper mast cheeks as well as sheave slots for the masts. The sheaves were turned on the lathe out of brass stock. I decided I did not like the previous iteration of the topgallant masts that I had done. On the Eagle, Crisman call for these to be exactly the same. So I redid these building them in parallel. These like all my masting were done first by cutting square strips of Maple to the size of the widest part of the mast, then using files, chisels and sand paper shaping the various sections per the drawings. By doing the fore and main topgallants at the same time I was able to better insure they were matched section by section. I still need to build the foremast cross trees and caps. The main mast caps also still require fitting and I may decide to redo some of those before all is said and done. 
 
Anyway, that is where she is today. Once the foremast is complete, I will work my way through the bowsprit and jibboom, then the spars. At that point, I hope to have all the rigging spreadsheet filled out. This will give me a good estimate for the numbers and sizes of the blocks to be made as well as the inventory of rope I need to make prior to starting the rigging. 
 
Here is a close up of the topgallant cheek blocks.
 
Topmast and topgallant masts. The fids will be cut to length after the cross tree is installed.Main mast topmast and topgallant masts. 

 
 
Main mast topmast and topgallant mast

Main mast topmast and topgallant at cross tree.

 
 
 

Continuation.
 
 
 

 
 

 

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

Continuation.
 
 

 

 

 

 

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

I spent today making a start on the fairleads. The forward fairleads are fairly standard while the rear fairleads have 3 rollers each.
 The fairleads are .875" long x .120" wide by .160" high. I made them from bar which was first machined to .875" wide by .160" thick using a fly cutter.
 

The profile of the fairleads were first formed from a series of holes drilled along the length of the bar and then connected by a .080 diameter end mill. The fairleads were then cut from the bar using a slitting saw.
 

Just to be a bit confusing the dimensions were worked out in millimetres.
The corners were then cut off to give the finished shape (the top has still to be cut)
 

Mounting holes and holes for the rollers were then drilled.
 

 

Thank you to all.
I started with rigging for guns. First part - breeching is ready.