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hamilton

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  1. Like
    hamilton got a reaction from yvesvidal in Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48   
    Feel like I just took a short nap since last I checked in on your log, Yves - and now look! This is another huge one from CAF....looking really great so far!
    hamilton
  2. Like
    hamilton reacted to yvesvidal in Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48   
    Working on the bases of the masts. First the main mast. If someone could explain to me what are these small yellow dots on the mast shims, I would appreciate it. The shims have not been sanded and I will finalize the base, when building the main mast.
     

     

     
    The base is not glued yet:
     

     
    Yves
  3. Like
    hamilton reacted to yvesvidal in Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48   
    I am starting to blend Session #1 and Session #2. Like most CAF Model kits, this ship comes in two sessions.
     
    The first session is all about the cradle, the hull and frames, including the stern.
    Session #2 is everything else.
     
    I did not complete the stern as it would impede easy access into the hull, for installing, nailing and sanding the inner planking. I will return to the stern (end of Session #1) at a later date.
     
    For now, I am trying to do the following:
     

     
    As indicated before, it is very difficult as there is no room for clamps, since the hull is stuck in its cradle and cannot be removed, yet. The long timber pieces have to be formed by hand, soaking them in alcohol and them bending them by hand, until they have reached the approximate desired shape. Gluing is then done in sections, using CA glue, and maintained with your fingers while drying.
     

     
    Below, you can see how the open stern helps with the internal access.
     

     

     
    The tree nailing is done as much as possible like on a real ship. The holes are actually crossing all the way into the frames, and the toothpicks soaked with glue are actually connecting the parts. It adds a little bit of bonding into some areas which are not possible to glue easily.
     

     
    Yves
  4. Like
    hamilton reacted to yvesvidal in Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48   
    Moving on with tedious and extremely delicate tasks. I decided to tree nail the wood pieces. It helps bonding with the frames, as the holes go inside the frame. Not sure I will do that everywhere inside the hull, as it will be barely visible.
     

     
    There is no way to hold the planks internally and you have to maintain them with your fingers, while the glue dries. Not exactly practical.
     

     

     
    The tree nailing is very subtle, which I prefer a lot.
     

     
    Yves
  5. Like
    hamilton reacted to yvesvidal in Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48   
    This is where we stand, at this moment. As mentioned before, the frames cannot be removed from the cradle until the deck beams and the inside of the hull have been built:
     

     

     
    Yves
  6. Like
    hamilton reacted to yvesvidal in Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48   
    All the frames have been glued and the keelson finalized:
     

     

     
    That cradle is quite practical, and it allows me to store the ship away from my bench, quite easily:
     

     
    It is a large model but nothing comparable to the humongous size of the HMS Bellona.
     
    Happy Holidays to all.
    Yves
     
  7. Like
    hamilton reacted to CiscoH in Armed Virginia Sloop by CiscoH - Model Shipways - 1:48   
    Tonight is another mid-flight deck planking update.  I had thought I was done with the Thinking Part but Lo I was mistaken. 
     
    I was still happy with the curved outside and straight inner planking run.  Then I tried to figure out my butt shifts.  The Model Shipways AVS plans don't have any butts, the easiest way to deal with them I guess.  I measured my hull planking and the longest plank was 7", or a scale 28' long, and a 3-butt shift.  So I decided on 7" long decking, no problems, but what about keeping the hooked scarfs from being too long and not having butts in awkward places?  A lot harder than it first seemed.  A week later, after studying Cheerful, Comet, and Speedwell's plans and a lot of erasing I settled on a) 4 shift pattern, and b) where this pattern would start.  This first butt of course dictates where all the other joints will be and I didn't want odd 2 foot planks at the ends OR a joint right next to the various hatches.  (As an aside, I have been thankful I purchased so many of David and Greg's books AND plans, even if I never end up building those specific ships.  They have been vital in helping me think through so many different tasks like this one.)

    I also had to figure out how to integrate the planking with the hatches and coaming.  The fore grate is surrounded by notched planks.  Fitting the next outer plank so it slides into the notched areas took some slow repeat sanding and many fittings but went ok.  The port side went fine as I could leave the front end long and trim it later; the starboard side had to be fitted to the notches AND into the curved waterway.  Pictured is my second attempt- it was all too easy to oversand the pointy part and leave a gap like I did here.

    Third time worked out though.  Also shown above is me using the wrong wood.  Both outer planks (the short ones) in the middle section are basswood, which is very hard to see.  I realized it last night and replaced them no problems.  The colour is very close!
     
    Here is a pic of the deck with most of the furniture in place.  The big central hatchway is not square, its more of a trapezoid.  At the time I didn't want to remake those darn mitered half lap joints and as usual its come back to haunt me.  You can see the hatch skews to port a little when lined up with the decking (its even at the back, which can't be seen in this photo).  One of the upsides of the basswood planks mistake was the opportunity to replace it with a wider one to help compensate.

    The fore grating fits well so now I'm notching around the companionway (which is thankfully actually square) and the large hatchway as my next steps.

    I made some jigs to help with notching 45 degree joints (laying on the deck above) with more accuracy as I eyeballed it my first go around.
     
    Well thats it for today.
     
    Happy Holidays MSW!
     
    thanks for reading, Cisco
  8. Thanks!
    hamilton got a reaction from yvesvidal in Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48   
    You work with incredible speed, Yves! She's coming along nicely!
    hamilton
  9. Like
    hamilton reacted to rlb in US Brig Oneida 1809 by rlb - The Lumberyard - 1:48 scale - POF - Lake Ontario Warship   
    John and Dan, I enjoyed meeting and talking with you both.  Always nice to get to know someone beyond their profile photo and user name!
     
    Mast collars:  I started by cutting a bunch of pieces with a 45 degree angle and gluing them together.   If I really wanted to get it right, I should have cut 22 1/2 degrees off each side of a piece, to have the wood grain radial.   I was satisfied with just showing that the collar is made of eight simulated "wedges"--

      
     
    These were then sanded roughly round--

     
    Next I drilled out the center, glued in a short piece of dowel, and turned the piece round.   After it was round, I drilled the dowel out--

     
    Here you can see I've started roughing out the opening of the first one to fit the fore mast, and other has the dowel glued in--

     
    I used my lathe, but lacking that I could have chucked the piece in a standard drill--


     
    One difficulty was shaping the cut out to accommodate the rather sharp rake of the masts, especially the mainmast.   In addition, my shaping of the masts was not perfect, with some variation in the eight sides.   That and the rake made it so the collar will only fit on one way (hence the label "F"(forward) on each collar.   Each one broke apart at least once as I was chiseling it out.  That ended up being a good thing, as the joints became a little more pronounced after regluing.  One down, one to go--

     
    Here are some photos of the masts with the collars dry fit on deck--




     
    I believe that is now a wrap for the hull and deck.  I am not going to redo the gratings--the holes are only a tiny bit too large.  They should be no bigger than 2 3/4", and they are 3".   So with that, it's time to start making rope for the standing rigging.
     
    All for now.
     
    Ron
  10. Like
    hamilton reacted to alde in Glad Tidings by alde - Model Shipways - 1:24 - pinky schooner   
    I've been slowly working on the deck houses. I'm pretty happy with the way its going so far. I'm really looking forward to getting to the masts but it's still a ways away for me. It's been fun figuring out the best way to work out assemblies. 




     
     
  11. Like
    hamilton reacted to Ronald-V in HMS Sphinx 1775 by Ronald-V - Vanguard Models - 1:64   
    Update: 
     
    Installing the stern gallery...this part went pretty smoothly! I think the pre-fitting when I was attaching the lower stern counter (post #92) definitely helped everything fit nicely...below is a photo report of how I glued the parts.
     

     
    First pre-fitting the (inner) stern fascia. This is the base that has to look good. Everything measured and worked from there.
     

     
    It turned out that the (inner) upper counter fit perfectly in between, which was a relief and confirmation that everything was exactly where it should be. Already tried the nails so that I can later push it into place with gluing.
     
     

     
    Gluing was easy and clamping was not difficult.
     
     

     
    Then it was just a matter of gluing the Stern fascia in place (it could rest nicely on top of the upper counter)
     
    And the result looks nice and straight and good (I think so ) 
     
     


     
    Now comes the trickier part...the side galleries that probably need some modification since I have open doors. Let's take a step by step look at how I'm going to tackle it.
     
  12. Like
    hamilton got a reaction from Knocklouder in HMS Sphinx 1775 by Ronald-V - Vanguard Models - 1:64   
    Nice work Ronald - you can never have too many clamps, eh?
    hamilton
  13. Like
    hamilton reacted to Greg Davis in Phantom 1868 by Greg Davis - Model Shipways - 1:48 scale - New York Pilot Boat   
    In the past, I've always 'turned' my masts - either using a lathe or the drill method. When I first started building, I would use dowels for masts. I number of builds ago, I started to work from squared stock that I would often taper before spinning the wood inside of sandpaper. That is not to say I haven't been aware of the method where you start with squared material, taper, then change to an octagonal cross section (or even a 16 sided regular polygon in cross section) before sanding to final shape. This method has looked hard - but I decided to give it a go with this model, partially due to the long / relatively slim nature of the masts. While having quite a few references to the method, this time I pulled out a copy of David Antscherl's 'The Fully Framed Model, Volume IV' that is dedicated to masting and rigging. Here I mimicked his jig for holding the mast in place as it is worked. I also made use of the 7-10-7 template PDF that Chuck Passaro shared on MSW.
     
    So with the squared C boxwood in hand, I drew the mast shape on one side of the blank and used my oscillating sanded to sand two sides of the blank. The same profile was drawn on one of the now shaped sides so the remaining two sides could be sanded. Then I used the 7-10-7 template to mark what needed to be planed in order to change the cross-section to an octagon. I put the blank in the jig and first tried to reduce the material with a chisel as described by Antscherl, but found that I was a bit more handy with a razor plane. It took hardly anytime to plane off the edges and now I am ready to sand the mast round.
     
    This was fast, efficient, made much less of a mess and was dramatically faster. I don't think I'll go back to using the drill / lathe as a starting point again!
     
    I might also note that Antscherl teaches this method in the Model Shipways Shipwright series of models - probably a much better place for a beginner than this 'beginner' model of Phantom.

  14. Like
    hamilton reacted to Capt. Kelso in Kate Cory by Capt. Kelso (Quint) - Model Shipways - 3/16" scale - Whaling Brig   
    Some progress on deck structures. Need to clean up the copper on the try works, trying to give it a slight weathered look.






  15. Like
    hamilton reacted to Capt. Kelso in Kate Cory by Capt. Kelso (Quint) - Model Shipways - 3/16" scale - Whaling Brig   
    Finished painting the hull and bulwarks. Adding the deck structures beginning at the bow. This is an old school time-consuming build, few cast fittings, no laser cut pieces. The kit instructions and plans lack considerable detail. I have to keep reminding myself the plans (kit and Museum) are not of the actual ship but are a representation of period vessels. Thanks to Thomas J. Lauria, (https://tjlauria.com/gallery/whaling-schooner-kate-cory/) and his model of Kate Cory for helping me keep my sanity and providing additional detail.
     



  16. Like
    hamilton got a reaction from Frank68 in Kate Cory by Capt. Kelso (Quint) - Model Shipways - 3/16" scale - Whaling Brig   
    Really nice job on the try works! Looks great!
    hamilton
  17. Like
    hamilton reacted to CiscoH in Armed Virginia Sloop by CiscoH - Model Shipways - 1:48   
    Well on to planking the main deck.  The kit comes with a detailed picture and the LaukStreet practicum follows this scheme closely.  Basically all straight planks except the outside one which is curved to match the sheer.    The fore ends of the outside planks are nibbed into a secondary plank called the Margin, or Nibbing, plank which parallels the waterway. 
     
    I think this was done because its easier (all the planks are straight and the same width, again except the outside one), the Margin Plank nibbing looks cool, and maybe also because its how Dr Feldman did the original model.  (Although when I looked at the pictures in his book he has 4 nibbing planks per side while the AVS directions show 3.  Again, maybe to make it easier).

    I have always liked the look of curved deck planking and I never liked doing things the easy way so off I went looking to make it harder on myself.  I have used Cheerful as a source of inspiration for this build and I really like the decking Chuck did which was curved and scarfed.  After a lot of thinking and the appropriate "mmmm hmmm" noises I came up with the following:

    I changed from equal numbers of planks on each side to a center plank, shown in the drawing above as a 1/2 plank in the middle, and 9 roughly 3/16" wide planks each side.  I was having a lot of trouble getting the hook scarfs to cooperate especially the aft one which was weird and too long.  Then I realized the hook scarfs are only used at the bendiest parts of the hull.  In the Cheerful there is no quarterdeck or cabin so the deck planking runs all the way to the stern.  In the AVS the main deck is only 2/3 of the ship's length and the aft main deck section doesn't curve much atall so it probably doesn't need any fancy joinery.
     
    So I did another template:

    I like this one better.  From above its not as obvious but when you sight down the length of the ship the planking clearly curves.  I need the currently uneven hook scarfs to be the same length so a small adjustment pending there.  I got rid of the aft hook and now the planks flow much better.  And if I want it curvier I can make the central planks a little fatter amidships. 
     
    Throughout all this I found both Chuck's Cheerful instructions (Chapter 8 ) and Eric W's super clean (and well documented) Cheerful builds very helpful.
     
    Next up is cutting the planking from my holly billets and not second guessing myself.
     
    thanks all
     
    Cisco
  18. Like
    hamilton reacted to Greg Davis in Phantom 1868 by Greg Davis - Model Shipways - 1:48 scale - New York Pilot Boat   
    Yesterday / today spent time making and fitting a margin plank around the exterior of the cockpit bulwark. It was made from 4 pieces of swiss pear - not quite as fancy as the one on the Volk, Davies model, but a nice addition.

    I did order some holly as possible decking material. Not sure how long it will be before it shows up. While I wait there certainly are other things that can be done on the model!
  19. Like
    hamilton reacted to yvesvidal in Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48   
    Frames #2 to #9 have been built. They are by far, the most difficult and delicate to install. There is a lot of sanding that takes place to fair them externally and internally and the insertion on the keel requires a lot of delicate sanding and numerous attempts.
     

     
    The CAF Model kit is very close to the Monograph and did not take the short cuts seen on the ZHL kits, which simply place each frame in a slot. The picture below shows what I mean:
     

     
    The frames are ready to install. Because of the severely restricted space, you need to build one frame at a time and make sure it fits perfectly. No gluing must take place at this stage.
     

     
    Then, when all frames are ready, I find it easier to glue #2 first and go to #9, one at a time.
     

     

     
    Above, Frames #2 and #3 have been glued. I use CA glue, since it is not practical to use Titebond at this location.
     

     
    Above, three more frames to go..... And it is over for the front:
     

     

     
    At this stage, a good half of the frames have been installed (#1 to #50). We will encounter some difficult frames again, when moving to the stern.
     

     
    Yves
     
  20. Like
    hamilton reacted to Rustyj in Sloop Speedwell 1752 by Rustyj - Syren Ship Model Company - 1:32 Scale - POF Sloop   
    Well I've completed the bow timbers and rough faired it. I was dreading this as I've never been really successful with this part of the build, but I managed to get through it and everything still lines up. Chucks instructions and etched reference lines along with Mikes log really helped. Now I'll move on the aft cant frames which is number 2 on my dread to do list. 😂

  21. Like
    hamilton reacted to Greg Davis in Phantom 1868 by Greg Davis - Model Shipways - 1:48 scale - New York Pilot Boat   
    The cockpit bulwark is out of the mold and fits nicely! The top will need to be trimmed down to the final height later. Space will also need to be made on the fore side where the cabin fits in.
     
  22. Like
    hamilton reacted to SardonicMeow in Sultana by SardonicMeow - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64   
    The ratlines are complete.  Quite a time-consuming operation.  It took me... wow. What year is this?
     
    As shown below, I printed out a spacing guide and used chalk to mark the location of each knot on the shrouds.
     

     
    Here's a shot with all the ratlines done.  Note the gaps in the ratlines.  Those will be addressed in the next update.
     

     
  23. Like
    hamilton reacted to Greg Davis in Phantom 1868 by Greg Davis - Model Shipways - 1:48 scale - New York Pilot Boat   
    To day I milled some 1mm swiss pear wood for the stern deck waterways. I decided to form them in three pieces - not as detailed as Volk, Davies; there the waterway was modeled with 7 pieces. I milled in slots for the timberheads to drop into. They are all 1/8" wide and will receive 1/8" square timbers that will be tangent to the bulwarks.
     

  24. Like
    hamilton got a reaction from Ryland Craze in Glad Tidings by alde - Model Shipways - 1:24 - pinky schooner   
    I learned that phrase as - "order in the environment, order in the mind!" This was supposed to be incentive for us kids to clean our rooms....let me tell you it didn't work!
     
    Your Glad Tidings looks really great, though, Al - nice finish and beautiful workmanship! 
    hamilton
  25. Like
    hamilton got a reaction from Paul Le Wol in Glad Tidings by alde - Model Shipways - 1:24 - pinky schooner   
    I learned that phrase as - "order in the environment, order in the mind!" This was supposed to be incentive for us kids to clean our rooms....let me tell you it didn't work!
     
    Your Glad Tidings looks really great, though, Al - nice finish and beautiful workmanship! 
    hamilton
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