el cid

Dredging 
Shipping in an Estuary early 20th century.
jim

Rigging looks easy... but it is not! 
 
Captain decided the square sails remain furled. 

Rigging goes very slow... its very hard.Though I spend hours on it there isnt much to see. It will come suddenly completion picture.
 
 

Chris,  This is actually what I do.  I go through a lot of wood as you will soon find out.  The costs are extreme when you have to buy retail even if you are extended a discount.   I buy the raw 8/4 or 12/4 lumber.   I bought a top of the line bandsaw and drum sander.  I will rip sheets myself or I have a guy that resaws them for me as needed.  I pay him per sheet milled.   
 
There is a lot of waste,  you will get boards that have knots and sap pockets that fall exactly where you have your laser cut parts positioned on a sheet.  So these sheets are set aside and used to rip strips.
 
To give you an idea of how many wood sheets,  my kit of the longboat requires 26 sheets of laser cut part.  Some large and some small.  To make 10 kits at a time I have to order around 350 - 400 sheets of various thickness.   This milling takes a few days to do.  You just have to plan ahead and if you did it yourself or had a friend help you it could save thousands per year.
 
I hand select my Cherry lumber, my Yellow cedar etc.  But remember,  you will never please everyone.  Everyone wants something different and you will soon see how crazy the requests get.  Boxwood order below...
 

Cherry sheets that milled myself for my kits...
 

Its worth considering.  Just find a buddy you know who wants to help and you can probably rip enough for a batch of kits over one weekend.

Just put a few drops of the CA into an old milk carton cap or similar small receptacle. Dip the thread in. Replenish as necessary. 

Great work Craig
 
Just a couple of notes if I may. The normal prop for most tugs of this type would be a four blade prop not a three like supplied in the kit if I remember correctly.
 
Also while the main deck and sides/bulwark are often worn and even dented in the case of the bulwarks especially around the stern where they are quite often very close to ships and barges and such. The upper works on virtually all tugs are kept pretty pristine as a matter of company pride.  

After the Tamiya White primer, the hull bottom got 2 coats of Tamiya Hull Red reduced with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. Above the water line will be black.
Prior, the rudder support was glued to the hull before adding the rudder and prop shaft bearing. Some Tamiya fill and sanding was needed on the hull-rudder support join. To be expected on an old kit like this. Fit is often sloppy.
I will look through my spares box to try and find a replacement prop. The prop supplied with the kit looks horrible.
 

I am of course not Kurt, (He is better looking and obviously smarter than me) but the part you are pointing out in your picture is a vent I believe.

The kit is a model of a DPC Tug built during WWII.  They were built on a rush basis due to the number of tankers being sunk off the east coast of the US early in WWII.  The tankers being sunk created severe shortages of fuel oil for heating in the NE so these tugs were designed so that barges could be pulled closer to shore or in the intercoastal waterways where the U Boats couldn’t get to them

The Office of Defense Transportation planned 100 Diesel tugs of 85’ x 24’ x 8’ and 500 barges and turned over the designing and superintending the construction of this fleet to the Philadelphia district office of the Engineer Corps, US Army.  The plans called for 100 identical tugs in order to facilitate the construction as ordering 100 of each component would simplify the manufacturing and later the servicing of the boats.  This also shortened procurement time as it was critical to get the tugs into service as soon as possible.

In October of 1943 the Defense Plant Corporation placed an order for the Engineer Corps, US Army for the Defense Plant Corporation (DPC) for 100 diesel tug boats.  The order for the 100 tugs was divided into contracts to six shipyards with individual contracts from a low of 4 tugs to a high of 42. 

The Long Beach shown on the kit box was based in LA and was a DPC tug as indicated by the pilothouse being squared up rather than round for the ease of production.  There was also the Los Angeles another DPC Tug that was essentially identical to the Long Beach - only the name boards were different.
The photos are of DPC tugs - The Becky E is shown under conversion to a live aboard in Lemont, IL.  The head on of the pilot house at dawn is Miss Laura in Duluth and the Tipperary is also in Duluth.  The Long Beach is shown following the Los Angeles.
Kurt


 

Ah yes.  Fond memories of changing from Military English to Civilian English.     And also of the nervous laughter and shocked expressions when asking someone to "pass the f****** massed potatoes" as the welcome home party.

My wife wouldn't even notice it if all I said was "Block It". I have lived most of my adult life in much more crude environments than you I suppose and if I bother at all, (Which is somewhat seldom) my choice of words tends to be a little more descriptive. Your choice of words reminds me of Winnie The Pooh and his "Oh Bother".
 
It does remind me of the first month or so after I came back from a year overseas with no women in sight and found I could no longer talk at all in mixed company!

Yeah, I know what you mean.  The bar has been set pretty high.  Still fun to learn new techniques from the masters here and attempt to emulate.

The Ship Derwent in Capetown Docks from a photo taken by one of her crew. The red building is now a 'posh' hotel.
Commissioned by a descendant of the man who took the photo
Acrylic on Stretched canvas 18” X 12”ish
Jim
 

Yeah, I know what you mean.  The bar has been set pretty high.  Still fun to learn new techniques from the masters here and attempt to emulate.

I've got some pictures to show you of the Constitutions topsail, topgallant, and royal yards.  Hopefully you can see the fittings for the yoke and parrel arrangement.  Also shown are the yardarm cleats and fittings for the outer studdingsail boom irons, as well as the sheaves for the sheets.  The horses and stirrups are attached to the yards.  At the center of the yards you can see the additional wood padding out the center section with the halliard blocks.  There are no quarter cleats on the front of the yards.  On the top mast yard, in addition to the iron jackstays there seems to be another rope one.  Not sure what the purpose for this rope stay is.  Perhaps it is for use as a man rope or hand hold for working aloft.  This is the only sail that currently gets set on the ship.  Also seen in the center section of the topsail yard is the net-like bunt gasket.  Hanging from underneath the yards are additional blocks with their rose lashings above.
 
I hope you find these useful.
 
Regards,

Thanks for all the likes again.
Next is the gaff and boom addition. One of the instructions was to seize a length of line to the 1/8" double block under the main top. As I didn't allow for this when I put the block in place there wasn't anything to seize the line onto (maybe I am still missing something...) So I decided to cut the block off and re-install it with the additional line attached. I also realized (after a while scratching my head....) that I had forgotten the 2 blocks for the boom topping lifts. So they had to be fitted under the main top as well. Not the neatest job, but I do now fully appreciate the reason for adding all these blocks when the masts are build...lol. Hand drilling upwards under the top with the rigging in place was a bit of a challenge.
Here are a few photo's...
Cheers, Peter

Yeah, I know what you mean.  The bar has been set pretty high.  Still fun to learn new techniques from the masters here and attempt to emulate.

I think I'm gonna' throw my Syren kit in the river , box and all !

Hi,
I've managed to make a bit more progress......
I did a dry run with the skid beam assembly fitted to the quarter deck to check the height the supports needed to be trimmed to. This turned out to be a couple of mm shorter than the drawing on the plan. I came up with this aid to help remove the correct amount from each end and then sand the ends square.

 
The companionway guard rails could now be completed. I opened out the holes in the end stanchions so two threads could pass through, using one to 'serve' the other.

 

 
With the steam trunk fitted, plus the galley chimney (shown on the plan but not mentioned in the instructions!!!) it was time to fit the quarter deck.
 
The rear third of the deck glued in place, the weights used to hold things together while the glue dried giving the appearance of an 18th Century container ship.........

 
The skid beam assembly has been painted as have the various brace bitts.
 
The front of the deck, including these, was then glued onto place.

 

 

 

 
Next task - assembling the beakhead bulkhead prior to fitting....
 
Cheers,
 
Graham

With the majority of the small parts made, it was time to start mounting them along with the mast. Holes were pre drilled and brass brads were cut off short to be used as both physical and decorative fastners.
　

　

　
The mast had been pre fit and all that was left to do was to glue it into place. The boat was adjusted on the stand so that the water line was level. A brad was inserted into the bottom end of the mast, trimmed to a 1/4" and then sharpened. Glue (PVA) was applied to the inside of the mast hole and the mast wedges. Once again using the level, the rake of the mast was set so that the top of it fell directly over the center of the hold. With some force, the mast was pushed downward so that the sharpened brad sunk into the keelson and held it firmly. After the glue had dried, the boom was dropped over the mast. A block that rested on the lazy board of the Yawl davits was used to hold the boom at the correct height. Both were then temperately tied in place.
　

　
Rigging for the boom lift and fore stay were added to aid in holding the mast from flexing. At this point a pattern could be made for the sails.
　
Construction paper was used to make the patterns.
　

　
The next challenge was to learn how to sew. Although I had spent many hours watching my mother sew when I was (much) younger, I had never actually done it myself. Fortunately I have some life long friends that live a few miles away. Scott is a friend I have known since third grade. His wife Barb is a friend I have known since high school. They both became high school sweethearts and eventually married. I had the honor of being a groomsman in their wedding. Over the years we enjoyed our shared interest of boating, fishing and crabbing while dreaming of living in a waterfront home on the Chesapeake Bay. Seven years ago, Scott retired early and he and Barb finally made the dream come true when they purchased a home in Cambridge. My wife Jan and I followed four years later when she retired from the school system. But I digress.
　
I gave Barb a call and she was more than willing to show me the basics of sewing and lend me her machine. After practicing on some scrap material, I jumped right in and produced the sails. The instructions told me to sew lines an 1 1/2" apart in the sail. They should follow the top edge of the sail and be sewn with a darker thread. This is supposed to simulate the seams that would be in a sail that is as large as the ones Skipjacks have. The mast hoops would then be sewn at the intersections of those lines and the side of the sail that abuts the mast. In hind sight, I wish that I would have sew the lines closer together because they only created 10 intersections. That only allowed me to use 10 mast hoops. All the pictures I have seen of the mast hoops on Skipjacks shows at least 14 or 15 of them.....OH WELL, what's done is done.
　

　

　
Reef points were sewn in and trimmed as well.
　

 
Reed
　
　
　
　
　
　

Although the kit supplied me with a hardware pack, not everything was included. It would be up to me to make a number of metal parts. I also decided not to use most of the parts supplied because they were intended to be painted and I wanted them in bright brass. The first thing I attempted was the roller assembly. Per the instructions, I used a 1/4" brass tube to make the main roller. a 3/16" dowel was inserted into it and then it was cut to lenght. The dowel gave a place for a couple of brads to be inserted into the ends of the roller and act as attachment points. Cutting sheet brass, bending, drilling and soldering it was a challenge as I have never worked in this medium before. Let alone making very small things out of it. Several attemps were made before reasonable success was achieved.
　
Here are some of the parts before assembly.
　

　
Final assembly after the painting was finished.
　

　
The list of small parts that needed to be made is long. Not choosing to use the parts from the kit made it even longer. Here's a list of most of them.
Bowsprit fitting, bowsprit gammon, mast fitting, bobstay and deadeye chain plates, rudder horns, steering rods, davits for the yawl, the winders "A" frame, turnbuckels, boom fittings for attaching blocks, jib and main sheet travelers, dredges, deadeyes and blocks.
　
Some of but not all of the many parts.
　

　
This is how I made the turnbuckels. They turned out "OK". I think I can do better now that I've seen some of the techniques used on this site. One of these days I may choose to remake them.......maybe.
　

　
After gaining some confidence building the smaller parts, I moved on to the davits. They are seen with the bowsprit fitting and bobstay chain plates. I made a simple jig to bend the davits. I will probably need to adjust the bend to get them to sit correctly on the transom.
　

　
Next was the dredges. There is generally a bit more bracing on them but I think that these are a fair representation. I may try to add some teeth to the bottom bar. The soldering iron I have isn't very good. It takes a long time to get the metal hot enough to melt the solder. These larger pieces seem to wick the heat away. I switched over to a small torch but then I ended up melting the other joints lose. Eventually I figured out that wrapping a wet piece of paper towel around them would keep them cool.
 
The kit gave me wedding vail to act as the chain netting on the back of the dredges. I have to paint it black and then figure out how to attach it. The tiny split rings they gave me are going to be very difficult to use. I'll be looking for an alternative method. Suggestions are always welcome.
　

　
The "A" frame has been the most frustrating part for me to build.The first one turned out so bad I just threw it away. The second one has turned out better but I'm still not happy with it. For some reason they don't have brass in 1/8" angle at either of the hobby stores I shop at and I don't really have a good way to make it. I decided to use 1/8" square tube even though that's not what the winder is made of. This time I made a jig to make the cuts. I used a piece of 1/16" rod that was bent and inserted it into the brass tube. This made holding the joint together much easier as it was soldered. It's also very strong.
　

 

 

 

 

 

 

　
Besides not haveing the correct material for the legs, I couldn't get a piece narrow enough for the top bar. Another problem was previously stated. I think the winder is a little bit to big. Even though I built the frame to the size stipulated in the plans, I think it's to short. When I look at the picture of Lady Katies frame, it appears to be higher than the engine box. For now I've set it aside in order to address other issues.
 
Reed.
　
　
　
　

Is time to install the shrouds but am not going to follow the kits instructions. It suggests to fix the deadeyes on the chainplates with a copper wire which will be at the inserted into a 1mm hole on the hull. Its not practical... its not easy... it doesnt look nice.... and it isnt strong enough. (see instr. picture)
 
And mainly its not the way is done on the real ship! (See picture underneath)
Am going to do it as the real ship.

Progress made.... rigging is slow... but I enjoy it.

Time to put some photo's over here. I made a careful start on this beast. Like i said before, i'm used to build bigger scale, 1/32 airplane models, so this will be my first ship building in plastic medium, i hope everything will turn the way i like it.
 
There's enough instructions to get lost on this one.
 

 
The hull is separated into two half's, which both are nicely moulded, some seam lines need to be removed, but it's no difficult job to do.. The fit of the two half's is fairly good.
 

 
I just wanted to know for sure how this kit would fit, so i did a dry-fit of both half's and the upper deck.
 

 

 

 
Also the two inner (i don't know how to call them ) walls gave a very good fit into the hull.
 

 
Dry-fit of the upper deck gave a good alignment, so for this i was happy.
 

 

 

 

 
Time to glue the two half's together.
 

 
When the gued is dry, i will glue two nuts into the hull, for later connection on a base plate. Also i will use epoxy glue into the separation seam for a secure connection.
 

 
Indeed, yes, i put in all my models my signature and starting date of the project, let's say it's for good luck...........
 
Ok guy's so far so good, it's not much, but it's a start.
 
Regards
 
Danny

I don’t know if I’ve posted this before.
A bit of American Heritage 
Ships of John Paul Jones's squadron pass the river Forth estuary. Later, they were involved in the battle of Flamburgh Head.
L to R Le Cerf , Pallas, Bonhomme Richard and Vengeance, September 1779
Jim
PS the ships are my own interpretation.