texxn5

Thanks Collingwood and John:
 
And sorry for the late response! It's been a nutty time out here in the grey Pacific NorthWest. But now the baby is a bit more settled, the semester is over and I can put a bit of time into the Blandford once again. Last night was the first time I touched the thing in about 3 1/2 weeks. I managed to shape, fnish & (mostly) outfit the mizzen yard. 
 
The rigging of it is a bit of a mystery - judging by Corel's plans (no surprise here), but I need to re-read Lees and see if I can't come up with an adequate interpretation for the Blandford. The typical lines are easy enough (throat, lifts, bowlines, truss, etc.), and I've left off rigging elements that are associated with the sails (blocks on the yard for the various bridles). But it's the rigging of the aft end of the yard down to the deck that is confusing. I'm going to spend some time with Lees this afternoon and some new rigging elements may get added next time I sit down at the bench.
 
In the meantime, enjoy the photos and be back soon
hamilton
 

Really looking nice.  All the colors of the woods give a great contrast....good pictures.

As we progress

thanks John........SUV is still in the shop.......haven't heard anything yet {probably a good thing}.    the hulls are about 22 inches long,  they mimic the Boulogne build at 1:20 scale.   still pretty much in their beginning stages for now.....need to get some flat stock for the decking.
 
hey........you got experience........how are you at making scale fireplaces?   just wondering............ :D
 
thanks for the good word, my friend!

Love what you've done with the Try-works John, a great feature.
 
B.E.

Great oven John !
Now for a few blocks of wood and a little ash and nobody knows that you build it     
 

Wow Popeye, you've really got a project going on.  Looking very good my friend.  Nice that you have room for all of them....by the way what is the length of the triplets????  They appear to be pretty good size....keep up the good work......hope your "car" thing worked out....

Hi Piet. Here are some pictures of the 40-mm Pom-Pom. Vishes. Boris  
 
 

Thank you all for visiting my dockyard and your "like" votes, it's most appreciated.
 
Well, today was two steps forward and one back.  This in itself was not a bad thing but I found necessary.
 
I cemented the styrene wall plates to the aft and forward parts of the command center (inside the lower part of the con) and started with the framing for the forward and aft conning tower and AA gun decks.
 
So now I was going to find out how long the AA lifting pistons have to be and for that I needed the guns.  I copied them from the drawings I have of the O21, which are the same type, and cut them out of some scrap 1 mm ply.  (See pic below).
Well, I right away saw that my previously build styrene tubes are too short on the inside due to the extra reinforcing ring I cemented on the bottom part.  I could make the guns a little shorter to make them fit - - - who would know - - - right?  Hmmmmm, no - no - Piet - - - that'll be an absolute no-no!  
So - - - okay, I had to make two new styrene tubes and only cement reinforcing bands on them on the outside.  Well, they are now shaped and taped on a brass tube of the right size.  Tomorrow we'll cement the reinforcing bands to them so they'll remain round.
 
The pedestal for the AA guns will most likely be made from a combination of wood and metal, brass.  The gun barrels also from brass tubes and wood.  I hope all this will work out and fit inside the tubes.  At least I have the space now for them to fully retract inside.
 
Doesn't look like a lot of progress but even though no one can see my second attempt of making styrene tubes I just could not use them with a clear conscience - - - my father is still looking over my shoulder  so the third attempt should be acceptable to the quality control inspector    
I still need to go on the Internet to find some good illustrations of these 40 mm Bofors so I can at least make an attempt to make them look as close as I can make them.  The deck gun will be a hole other issue and a worry / concern for later 
 

Here are the two Bofors hinged to a flat pedestal.  As you see it here there is plenty of space for this assembly to fit inside my tubes.  It's now a matter how far up I can go without the piston popping out of it's cylinder tube.  Measure three or four times then cut once 
 
Cheers,

Hello everyone and thank you all for visiting and thanks for your "like" votes.
 
Not done much today, had to go to an holiday office party - - - free lunch! 
 
@ Daniel, there are no silly questions my friend.  I know it was a bit confusing in describing all the "stuff" involved with the con.  The reason for these pipes or tubes is to make whatever goes into it move up and down, i.e. make them retractable as was done on the actual boat.  I'm making it a semi working model as much as I can.
Yes, the styrene tubes are for the AA guns.  They are mounted on a platform that is attached to a plate that is attached to a hydraulic cylinder that allows the gun to be lowered into the tube which is then closed from the outside before the crew goes inside through the crew hatch tube.  The AA gun tube is also rated for maximum design depth and will thus remain dry.
I have reposted one picture with letters to each tube with an explanation for each one and why.
 
@ Popeye, yes, but the only part that has a lot of "stuff" inside is the actual control center where the periscopes can be used for attack and navigation.  Oh, there is much more "stuff" inside that room but - - - .  Below that control center is the central control station.  Access to the control center above it is with a pull-down ladder.  When on the surface access to the outside of the con, called "the bathtub," is through a hatch tube.
 
@ Sailor, right you are, like I mentioned there is a lot of "stuff" in these boats.  I remember the smell of the boat when my father came home from patrol or during his inspections of the boat and or work that was being done.  No matter how often he bathed it always stayed with him.  I guess it became part of him, like I used to smell like aircraft when I was working on them.
 
@ John, thanks my friend for visiting and yes, things are getting exiting now.
 
Okay, as I said above, not much work was done today but I managed to make provisions for the 2 X 3 stringers to tie all the bulkheads and frames together and to support the gun and "bathtub" decks.  I hope to be able to cement the forward and aft half circular styrene command center walls to it.  
I am also making the frames for the forward section of the con but need to make the AA guns first to be able to determine how long I have to make the "piston rods" so they don't pop out of the "cylinders."
 
I do not have photos of the AA guns and will have to go to the internet to find them.  She had two 40 mm Bofors in pairs and one 12.7 mm gun for anti aircraft.  This was all changed during the refit in 1943 but that was after my father's time.  I'll have to search again through all my photos, also of the boats that were build and launched just before the Nazi army overran the Netherlands in May of 1940.  Even so, these pics may not be enough to give me an good idea how these guns look like.  The same goes for the deck gun.
 

Tube A is the outer casing for the snorkel exhaust pipe. That thing is on the most aft part of the con and the exhaust pipe can be raised and lowered.
Tube B is the crew hatch for access to the aft AA gun deck and is flush with the deck surface. 
Tube C is the water tight AA gun tube.  The aft gun deck ends just forward of that tube where the Periscope sliding cylinders are housed.  This tube stick out above the deck surface.
Tube D is the shroud or cylinder for the snorkel intake.  This is also a retractable pipe as the exhaust is.  When "snorkeling" all you could see are the exhaust, intake, antenna mast and periscopes.  For submerged sailing every thing was retracted as much as possible.
Tube E is for access to the bridge or "bathtub" above it.  I made this tube extra long to give it sufficient support.  In the real boat it was rather short with the watertight lid/door at it's bottom, which is in the "ceiling of the command center.  I could have made this tube short but wanted the extra support.
Tube F is the forward gun deck crew hatch tube for access to the forward AA gun.
Tube G is the forward watertight AA gun tube.
 
Cheers,
 
 

the journey continues with the bulwark planking.   I'd do a little here,  and a little there.....in between,  messing with other things.  since I had the one called Larry on the slip,  I continued with the planking until the bulwarks were complete.  I even did a little sanding,  along with the sanding at the stern,  to eliminate the plank stubbles.
 

 

 

 
next was the one called Moe.......it was refreshing to work with real plywood,  even though it was a bit harder to use pins
 

 

 

 
the third row on each one of them has the butt joint in the same place.   it was time to lay the fourth row.
 

 

 

 
last,  but not least,  was the one called Curly.   I got tied up with  'other things'.........but I did manage to get all the planking done.
 

 

 
I did say that I was going to bounce around and do some sub assemblies.  I decided to do a bit of work on the Boulogne Etaples........the host of this little fiasco.   it was pretty cool to see the four hulls together.
 

 
with all the bulwark planking done..........I can move on 

sitting on the deck, not glued yet...probably won't attach, until  all  the other parts are all built....then do it all at once knowing how everything fits.  That is the workbench, cooling tank, insulation boards, and rendering bin...

some more

Now for some paint and trim out...

Just trying out the fit to make sure it's ok

starting to shape up

Here's a link to the Naiad build by Ed Tosti (the "father of liver of sulphur" on MSW  ) where, toward the bottom of the page, in post #446, Ed describes the ease of use of LOS and provides a link to Amazon where you can purchase it:
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/232-hms-naiad-by-edt-160-frigate-38-1797/page-30#entry85402

Great job on the tryworks John!  It's amazing how much "stuff" was on the deck of a whaler.  From the hurricane houses on forward, lots and lots of structures.
 
By the way, I don't believe Blacken It works on copper.  However, copper does blacken nicely with liver of sulphur.
 
Robert

Hi Sjors.......no wood in this ship oven.....they burned the whale residue from processing the oil after most of it was cooked out.....

That link was a really good explanation about the LOS. I wondered why the blacken-it continued to oxidize the metal after rinsing...in fact I had learned to very carefully rinse it off the treated part. Thanks for the link John.

Excellent work on the Tryworks John.
Frank

sitting on the deck, not glued yet...probably won't attach, until  all  the other parts are all built....then do it all at once knowing how everything fits.  That is the workbench, cooling tank, insulation boards, and rendering bin...

Now for some paint and trim out...

sitting on the deck, not glued yet...probably won't attach, until  all  the other parts are all built....then do it all at once knowing how everything fits.  That is the workbench, cooling tank, insulation boards, and rendering bin...

some more