el cid

Re: the use of CA for photoetch, for bigger assemblies/longer joints, after bending and tacking the assembly together, I run a bead of thick CA along the inside (not visible) side of the joint and sprinkle the joint with baking powder before the CA cures.  The baking powder causes the CA to set quickly and form a filet, making a more solid structural bond.
 
Also, those GLS sets can be pretty challenging (IMHO), so don’t beat yourself up if you find them difficult.  Looks to me like you’re getting the hang of it.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith

Re: the use of CA for photoetch, for bigger assemblies/longer joints, after bending and tacking the assembly together, I run a bead of thick CA along the inside (not visible) side of the joint and sprinkle the joint with baking powder before the CA cures.  The baking powder causes the CA to set quickly and form a filet, making a more solid structural bond.
 
Also, those GLS sets can be pretty challenging (IMHO), so don’t beat yourself up if you find them difficult.  Looks to me like you’re getting the hang of it.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith

Re: the use of CA for photoetch, for bigger assemblies/longer joints, after bending and tacking the assembly together, I run a bead of thick CA along the inside (not visible) side of the joint and sprinkle the joint with baking powder before the CA cures.  The baking powder causes the CA to set quickly and form a filet, making a more solid structural bond.
 
Also, those GLS sets can be pretty challenging (IMHO), so don’t beat yourself up if you find them difficult.  Looks to me like you’re getting the hang of it.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith

Gourock, and the Tail o' the Bank on the river Clyde. Convoy assembly point and escort base during WW2
W/C 15.5” X 11.5”

Re: the use of CA for photoetch, for bigger assemblies/longer joints, after bending and tacking the assembly together, I run a bead of thick CA along the inside (not visible) side of the joint and sprinkle the joint with baking powder before the CA cures.  The baking powder causes the CA to set quickly and form a filet, making a more solid structural bond.
 
Also, those GLS sets can be pretty challenging (IMHO), so don’t beat yourself up if you find them difficult.  Looks to me like you’re getting the hang of it.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith

My next steps were to start on the detail for the pilot house and bridge wings.  This consisted of the encapsulated lifeboats and holders, the port & starboard pelarus, running lights on the bridge wings.  Inside the pilot house I painted the interior bulkheads the pastel green (this was the color so those sea sick green faces would blend in).  I contemplated adding the helm and lee helm consoles in the pilot house but ultimately decided that the only way some one would see them would be through the small port holes with the use of a flashlight and would only be able to see the back of them.  Wasn't worth the effort.  All the detail pieces were made by hand.  Later on in the building process I do replace the port & starboard pelarus with manufactured ones.
 
After I installed those, and viewed the bow on picture, I decided that what was there was not up to the quality I desired. So, I removed part of the bridge wing and 02 deck to effect some repairs and adjustments.  You can tell the difference from the two bow on pictures below.
 
 

Moving to the 02 Level installed the (fwd to aft) pilot house, bridge wings, CIC and stack deck.  It was at this point that I realized the most important tool in my kit is my vision.  I did not realize until I took the pictures and looked at them that there was a huge gap on the port side above the porthole.  My near vision, before I started this project, was perfect.  This is about a year into the project now, and it was evident I needed a pair of readers. 🤓  To correct this, instead of removing pilot house and bridge wings, I filled in the gap with wood filler and sanded down smooth.  In future photos, this will be evident.
 
Looking through the website, I have come across a number of ways to create the waterline.  My technique was similar to most of them.  I took a toothpick and taped it to a block of wood at the level the top of the boot-topping.  I would dip the tip of the toothpick in black paint and, with the ship securely in the cradle, gently tapped the ships hull putting a small dot to mark the top of the boot-topping.  I did this all along the hull spaced about 1/8" between the dots.  I did the same technique for the lower part of the boot-topping.  After the dots dried, using painters tape, I taped along the top and bottom and painted the boot-topping on.  Having been on a number of Navy ships, you can tell who ran a good Deck Division by looking at the boot-topping at the bow.  If the Port and Starboard sides met up perfectly at the bow, it was a good division.  Of course, mine came out perfect!

Continuing on, I wanted to get the portion of the fantail aft bulkheads and bulwark painted because once I put in the minesweep/towing winch and ladder from the main deck to the 01 level, there would be no way of getting in there.  After finishing up the aft bulkhead, complete with QAWTD for the port and starboard passageways, QAWTD to go down to the electrician's shop and shaft alley, I began constructing the minesweep/towing winch.  Other than what was on the ship drawings, a few pictures, and my memory, I did not have anything in detail to construct the winch.  As you can see in the picture below, it is quite a substantial piece of deck equipment and did close off my access to the aft bulkhead.  The aft ladder going from the fantail to the main deck was constructed and installed at this time too.  The minesweep/towing winch has 4 reels of wire - port & starboard minesweep wire, center depressor wire, and the towing wire.  In the picture, the green wheels were, at that time, made of wood.  They were eventually replace with a etched brass wheel purchased from Bluejacket Models (where I got most of the small parts from).  In addition to the winch and ladder, I also constructed and installed the port king-post and boom.
With those in place, I began on the superstructure.  From aft forward, the Magnetic Cable Reel room, the P&S A/C plants and uptake space, the Halon room, the the big portion includes on the 01 level radio central, admin and storage lockers, then forward is the Captain's cabin and passage ways.

My next steps were to plank the main and 01 level weather decks.  After completing the weather decks, I then tackled the hull.  For all this I used 1/32 thick basswood where I cut the planks to 1/16 wide.  That made them, by scale, 6" wide which is a little wider than reality.  In reality, the decking is only about 2" wide with about a 1/4" space between them for oakum and rubber sealant.  The hull planks were about 6" in reality, so 1/16 wide was to scale.  Another lesson learned here.  These can be purchased, the planks.  Cutting from a 1/32 sheet of basswood did cause me difficulties later on.  The thickness (1/32) was not always consistent throughout the sheet.  Some planks were thicker, others thinner.  So, to over come this, once they were all installed, I spent numerous hours carefully sanding the hull and weather decks to smooth out the differences.  My intention at the time was to smooth the hull as much as possible then apply wood filler along the hull and then sand that down given me a nice clean, smooth hull.  As I looked at the hull with the planking I realized that is not how those ships were, they were not smooth hulled like a frigate, destroyer, or practically any other ship in the Navy fleet.  They were old, beaten and showed many scars from Junior Officers novice shiphandling skills (I put a few on ENGAGE myself).  I left the hull with the planks and a few imperfections.
At this juncture in the construction, I also installed the shafts, shaft struts, and thru-hull.  At the time (2008), I was not planning on a log, so I am using those pictures that I took at the time to document the process and progress.

Yes Roger, remember standing many hours on the deck and the unique engine orders.  And trust me, you were not the only OOD that had difficulties on watch.  I was the MCM Evaluator when we lost the minehunting sonar in the middle of a live minefield during the Persian Gulf war.  These were difficult ships.
 
Thanks all for the notes and likes!
 
My next step was to install the exterior main and 01 level sub-decks.  Using the booklet plans I was able to directly trace out the decks, no adjustments for scale differences.  I used basswood as the decking.
 
In addition to the fantail deck, I installed the aft bulkheads and the exterior bulkheads for the mag-cable reel room.  Installing the mag-cable reel room bulkheads was a mistake.  If you recall in my previous post I intentionally left space in the framing for the mag cable reel.  Later on in the project I realize that with the bulkheads in place I would not be able to install the cable reel, it is bigger than the opening.  Live and learn....
 
 
 
 

A great project!  In 1964 I was attending the University of  Michigan studying Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and also pursuing a USNR commission with the university’s NROTC unit.  This program required one summer cruise, the 1st Class one.  I received orders to an old WWII submarine in the Western Pacific.
 
It  turned out that the submarine was going “somewhere that I wouldn’t want to go” according to the boat’s captain.  Wherever they were going involved scuba gear and rubber boats which were stacked on board.  After considerable shuffling around and two more flights I found myself aboard the Ocean Minesweeper USS Loyalty (MSO 457) deployed overseas to Sasebo, Japan.  It was my first experience aboard a US Navy warship.
 
The captain was a hard-boiled sort of guy who was determined that the two midshipmen on board would become qualified OOD’s before the end of the cruise. As soon as we got underway, I was assigned to the pelorus and range finder on the bridge and told to keep station on another ship in the diamond formation.  As the ship was fitted with controllable pitch propellers engine orders were given in feet of pitch (all ahead four feet). I was assigned to a regular watch section as JOOD and when we began a mine sweeping exercise with the Japanese Navy we stood four on, four off.  We eventually got to the point where I was to stand an OOD watch by myself.  Upon reporting to the bridge, the fog was so thick that I could’nt see beyond the jack staff but I was doing ok using RADAR.  About an hour into the watch a signal came through to change formation.  In my nervousness about this maneuver which I had little idea how to accomplish I garbled the Radio Transmission.  The captain came boiling out of his sea cabin behind the bridge, pissed off.  I was promptly relieved in disgrace.  
 
Looking back, it was remarkable opportunity.  The combination of the small ship and old salt captain gave me wonderful experience that I wouldn’t have received elsewhere.  
 
After I left her to return to school, Loyalty deployed to Vietnam for operation Market Time and made several deployments after that.  During one deployment she fired her 40mm “main armament” (later replaced by a 20mm) in anger destroying a gun emplacement.
 
Roger
 

Re: the use of CA for photoetch, for bigger assemblies/longer joints, after bending and tacking the assembly together, I run a bead of thick CA along the inside (not visible) side of the joint and sprinkle the joint with baking powder before the CA cures.  The baking powder causes the CA to set quickly and form a filet, making a more solid structural bond.
 
Also, those GLS sets can be pretty challenging (IMHO), so don’t beat yourself up if you find them difficult.  Looks to me like you’re getting the hang of it.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith

Ok, where to start?  First my motivation and why such an obscure ship.  This was my first sea assignment right after commissioning from the Naval Academy.  I spent two combined years on ENGAGE and IMPERVIOUS.  The entire crew transferred from ENGAGE to IMPERVIOUS for Desert Storm.  Being the first (you never forget your first 😉 ), ENGAGE holds a special place in my heart.  It was a tough ship to be on, the crew truly lived up to the mantra "Wooden Ships, Iron Men".  The ships hull was leaky and oil soaked, so as the Damage Control Assistant, I constantly worried about flooding or fire - either one and the ship was going to go fast.  On IMPERVIOUS we actually conducted mine clearance operations in live minefields - very nerve wracking.  That is why I chose a MSO, and why I chose ENGAGE.  The attached photo of ENGAGE is from December 1991, right after her decommissioning.  As you can see the pilot house port holes and bridge windows are all boarded up and the anchor chain is rigged for tow.  She was to depart the next day for Philadelphia, PA.
 
Because this was such an obscure ship, there is not a lot of ship build information out there on MSOs.  Fortunately, in 2007 I was assigned to a command which had a lot, and I mean a lot of mine warfare historical documents.  One of those documents was the BUSHIPS Booklet of General Plans for MSO 441 (pictures attached).  This got me started.  The General Plans were great for profiles and deck layout, but one thing missing from the plans were the hull lines.  Searching through the internet, I was able to find a set of hull lines for a MSO, but they were not to scale.  After much manipulation and trial and error, I was finally able to get those plans to scale (or at least extremely close).  With a good starting point, I set out on my adventure.  It was January 2008.

Hi Dubz
 
        Thank you for your reminder.The picture above is a test made of plywood, not an actual part. The actual parts are different in thickness.

after the disastrous first week of the build, i have made a few conclusions
 
i was totally overwhelmed by the amount of shiny stuff, in the addons, everything had to be opened and played with, im sure others can relate to this
 
Soldering, is my way ahead for this build, no i didn't know haw to do it and never had the right stuff, now sorted and will show in a later post
 
the hull
 
having made up the 4 sections the keel has to be removed and fared into the plates at the bow, also the hull plates are to thick and porthole eyebrows need to be gone,
a bulk of the work has now been done
 
but many more hours still required to make it presentable 
 
 
 
 
 

Team, very excited to share my progress. Since my last update I completed the head rails, Cannons, exterior details and started on the internal details. Plenty of lessons along the way but I'm very happy with it so far. Check out the photos below!
 

Quarter Badges
 
 

Carronades! (I added elevation screws after this photo and they have not been glued or rigged yet) 
 

Long Guns
 

Head Rails.
 

 
Some belay pins placed 
 

 

Head Rails with the Bumpkins and Figure Head
 
 
 
Thanks for taking a look! I'm open to any feedback you have. I'm learning along through out this build and thoroughly enjoying it! 
 
-Joe
Just an army dude that likes ships
 

The next step in this build was coppering the hull. This part was equal parts rewarding and overwhelming. The first step, build and test the press. 
 

 

 

 
I wasn't really sure if I like this, they imprints seamed to large for individual rivets and in fact, they are. However, when taken in the whole, they actually look really good, and so I started the process. 
 
Dear lord, this was a lot of copper plates.... 
 
But four weeks of work, and its complete! 

 



 
and with that, you're all caught up. The next step for me is the hull details. I'm very excited to see where this thing takes me. It's been a huge learning experience so far and I expect I will have plenty more opportunities to learn before I finish this one. 
 
-Joe
Just an army dude that likes ships
 

Modern signal flags are made with a ring spliced into the top of the tack line, which runs through the tabling on the hoist of the flag and extends beyond the bottom of the flag, and a snap hook spliced into the bottom of the line.  The snap hook also has a hole with a sharpened edge that takes the marline that can be used to make up the flag for breaking after running it aloft in a rolled bundle.
 
If you look closely in the WWII flag bags (still used today) you will see that the flags are held in racks of "fingers" that have slots to hold the rings and snap hooks of the flags vertically.  Each set of fingers holds two of the same flag.  The flags are arranged in the flag bag grouped together by type and alphanumerically (letters, numeral flags, numeral pennants, special pennants, substitutes).  In operation you have a flag bag operator and a man on the halyard uphaul.  The halyard uphaul has a snap hook spliced in the end.  The flag bag operator snaps the hook on to the first flag of the hoist and the up haul is hauled pulling the ring out of the fingers.  While the flag is coming out of the bag the flag bag operator is snapping the hook from the first flag onto the ring of the second flag. This continues until the hoist is complete.  The last flags snap hook is then hooked into the halyard downhaul and the hoist is the raised to the required height (at the dip which is halfway up, or close up which is fully raised to the yard arm). Depending on the ship you can fit a half dozen flags or more in a single hoist.  Additional halyards are employed until the signal is complete.  Signals are hoisted from outboard in.  A well trained signal crew can raise a hoist of flags in seconds from receiving the coded signal.
 
Regards,
a USN Signalman

Aftermath
Four masted barque 'Pinmore' with heavy weather damage to her masts and spars.
An interesting career worth looking up
. Watercolour 420mm X 297mm
Jim

A Gun Brig rakes a Privateer in the Transom as she passes round her stern. Withering Fire brings down her Main Mast taking her Foretop Mast with it. Soon it will be “ Away boarders away”
Watercolour 16” X 12”

Finally... an update.
The two remaining small boats are on hold for now.  I needed a change of pace and break from those fiddly things.
 
I've installed the forecastle and quarterdeck beams.  And also installed the pumps.  Clearances have been checked and re-checked for rigging to come at a much later date.
Next up is planking the decks and associated bulwarks.  I'm starting with forecastle.  Here's photos:
 

I had to get the camera repaired and it would appear that the repairs were successful.
 
Till next time.

The 3 to 1 rule (or circumference of line) bending rule has a long history in maritime use (as in pre-dating the 1st edition of Knight's Modern Seamanship).
 
So, a 7" lnie really "wants" a 22" bitt crossbar to not damage the rode.
 
For perspective, a 7" diameter line if a bit bigger than most of our thighs, and, typically made up of individual lines laid against the lay of the rode.  This is not a casual thing to take hold of and fetch up a loop into.  Probably even more so in the limited room of a forepeak.
 
As to bending off the rode before letting go, that suggests hauling up and flaking out a lot of rode.  In a 10 fathom anchorage, you are asking to flake out 50 fathoms of rode--300' [91m] of 7" [17-18cm] line.  Which is rather a lot of line to get out on deck, to let run freely.  (everything I have read of RN practice is that 1:3 was considered short scope, and that 1:5 was considered more prudent, if on ground that was "well holding.")
 
I also have a lifetime of being aroun Bos'un' and CPO (people would would have been Mates, back i nthe day).  A s rule they are a frugal and conservative bunch.  Suppose the tide goes out and you need to take in 5 or 6 fathoms of rode, or lay out another 10 as a storm brews up.  Far easier to cast off a stopper lashed to the bitts and make the adjustments as opposed to figuring out how to take the strain off the rode snubbed on the bitts.
 
But, then again, I might just be crusty and old and garrulous (I rather hope not, but, still . . . )

your progress is really good Kevin    I must admit though.......I haven't heard of too many that has used solder on PE.  I thought about it,  but always ended up using the recommended adhesive...CA.  

Not an expert, but I suspect some artists use their imagination to create dramatic effect.  To me the whole stuns’l apparatus seems rather weak and only suitable for making the most of light winds.  I bet they were quickly doused when winds picked up (more likely with any indication winds would be picking up).
 
FWIW,
 
Keith

I'm getting close to finishing the old 74. It will be a birthday gift for my grandson, with radio, battery everything installed ready to hit the water. But this afternoon, while giving the old 74 a trial run in the tub, I found that she is quite top heavy due to the upper cabin. So in order for her to sit well in the water at the proper water line without tipping over, she will require a tad over a pound of lead or dead weight in order to balance her. I went with a 380 sized motor and a 7.4 2 cell 1500mah lipo battery. I started to put in a 540 motor, I have a few of them laying around an a 3s 3000mah lipo, but I didn't want that much power for my grandson in such a small boat. I really hate adding dead weight, but in this situation, I guess it can't be helped.