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Thank you so much Piet, I knew I could depend on you especially with metal work.  Details are really what it's all about.  Your sub is really taking on a personality.  I will assume the roll of pig tomorrow, actually I already am, cooks perogative....eat as you cook to make sure it's tastes right...we've been maiking stuffing and apple pie.  Our best  to you and Gwen.....aw...go ahead...join me in the pig trough.  I'm rolling over and Diane is calling me pig.  So I will also take this non topic for the opportunity to wish everyone a very Blessed Thanksgiving, and may we all reflect at this time just how much we have to be thankful for whether it is health;, wealth, bounty, and most especially this blessed life that we all enjoy.....may God Bless all of you and your families in this joyous celebration of thanks to our creator....take care and enjoy...........all of my friends........John & my Admiral, Diane...... 

Hello John,
 
You are welcome!  I'm looking forward in seeing your harpoons completed!  I figured that the more info I can give is also for the benefit of possible others.  
All the extra details on your model, or on any model, makes the model!  I guess that's why I am adding much more to my sub model then originally planned.
Give my best to Diane and happy thanksgiving,
 
Cheers, 

Wow, Piet, I think you just gave me a quick education on working with the metals.  Thank you so much, it is exactly what I needed.  With the Holiday coming up I probably won't be able to build this until the weekend or next week.  Your discription is like a practicum on building harpoons.  I will document and photogarph this as I attempt to build them.  I will probably need to make about a dozen of these or so.  The instructions from ME don't tell me that????  I am familiar with the techniques you discribe so I should not have a problem.  I have a good small anvil, so I do have a good worksurface.  I was not expecting such a detailed construction method, but then again I do know you, so actually I should have known....lol. Thank you and with your discription, and my building them, it should really aid anyone else that builds this ship, as well as me.  

Hi Mobbsie, as you know being good is not fun....lol, but I will be a pig tomorrow for sure!  It looks like the Harpoon count is around 16-18.  I have 5-6 that will hang under the roof on the Shelter, and 3-4 that will go on the whaleboats as they are rigged out.  With 7 whaleboats, there will be 2 that are mounted upside down on the roof, and then 5 will be hanging from the davits.  Each whaleboat will be a small model in itself.  Lots of work.  There are also several other items that will have to be made for the boats.  Saltyseadog, a member here, has a very good 1/25 scale whaleboat that is posted on the Forum that I will probaby use as a guide, however I don't believe I will be able to recreate as much detail as he did, and most wouldn't be necessary on my boats in that they will be incorporated into the overal ship and not a independant model.....he even went so far as to scrimshaw the knife handles....outstanding model.  I'm glad I was directed to it by some of the members.  Pictures to follow as I get them done, but it might be a week or so.

Thanks Augie, Isn't it interesting how many different types of skills are required to build a model ship. I don't guess I ever thought about it before.  Maybe we are a "jack of all trades"?  

Hi John,
 
The detail in your ship is amazing and I've enjoyed following your build. It's almost a universal given for me, no matter what build I look at, regardless if it's related to my build, I always learn something.

Wow, Piet, I think you just gave me a quick education on working with the metals.  Thank you so much, it is exactly what I needed.  With the Holiday coming up I probably won't be able to build this until the weekend or next week.  Your discription is like a practicum on building harpoons.  I will document and photogarph this as I attempt to build them.  I will probably need to make about a dozen of these or so.  The instructions from ME don't tell me that????  I am familiar with the techniques you discribe so I should not have a problem.  I have a good small anvil, so I do have a good worksurface.  I was not expecting such a detailed construction method, but then again I do know you, so actually I should have known....lol. Thank you and with your discription, and my building them, it should really aid anyone else that builds this ship, as well as me.  

Thanks Augie, Isn't it interesting how many different types of skills are required to build a model ship. I don't guess I ever thought about it before.  Maybe we are a "jack of all trades"?  

you never know how much detail you can put into her......until you try       with what you've done so far........I think your on the right path!
 
Happy Thanksgiving my friend!   I can't wait till our turkey is in the oven.........I long for the smell!

Thanks Augie, Isn't it interesting how many different types of skills are required to build a model ship. I don't guess I ever thought about it before.  Maybe we are a "jack of all trades"?  

Hi Mobbsie, as you know being good is not fun....lol, but I will be a pig tomorrow for sure!  It looks like the Harpoon count is around 16-18.  I have 5-6 that will hang under the roof on the Shelter, and 3-4 that will go on the whaleboats as they are rigged out.  With 7 whaleboats, there will be 2 that are mounted upside down on the roof, and then 5 will be hanging from the davits.  Each whaleboat will be a small model in itself.  Lots of work.  There are also several other items that will have to be made for the boats.  Saltyseadog, a member here, has a very good 1/25 scale whaleboat that is posted on the Forum that I will probaby use as a guide, however I don't believe I will be able to recreate as much detail as he did, and most wouldn't be necessary on my boats in that they will be incorporated into the overal ship and not a independant model.....he even went so far as to scrimshaw the knife handles....outstanding model.  I'm glad I was directed to it by some of the members.  Pictures to follow as I get them done, but it might be a week or so.

Happy blacksmithing...... and Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Mobbsie, as you know being good is not fun....lol, but I will be a pig tomorrow for sure!  It looks like the Harpoon count is around 16-18.  I have 5-6 that will hang under the roof on the Shelter, and 3-4 that will go on the whaleboats as they are rigged out.  With 7 whaleboats, there will be 2 that are mounted upside down on the roof, and then 5 will be hanging from the davits.  Each whaleboat will be a small model in itself.  Lots of work.  There are also several other items that will have to be made for the boats.  Saltyseadog, a member here, has a very good 1/25 scale whaleboat that is posted on the Forum that I will probaby use as a guide, however I don't believe I will be able to recreate as much detail as he did, and most wouldn't be necessary on my boats in that they will be incorporated into the overal ship and not a independant model.....he even went so far as to scrimshaw the knife handles....outstanding model.  I'm glad I was directed to it by some of the members.  Pictures to follow as I get them done, but it might be a week or so.

Wow, Piet, I think you just gave me a quick education on working with the metals.  Thank you so much, it is exactly what I needed.  With the Holiday coming up I probably won't be able to build this until the weekend or next week.  Your discription is like a practicum on building harpoons.  I will document and photogarph this as I attempt to build them.  I will probably need to make about a dozen of these or so.  The instructions from ME don't tell me that????  I am familiar with the techniques you discribe so I should not have a problem.  I have a good small anvil, so I do have a good worksurface.  I was not expecting such a detailed construction method, but then again I do know you, so actually I should have known....lol. Thank you and with your discription, and my building them, it should really aid anyone else that builds this ship, as well as me.  

Hello John,
 
Well, here I am commenting on your questions about harpoons and how to make them.  I copied your last post from my O 19 sub build log.
 
 
Hhi Piet, as I'm thinking about this, I realize 14 ga., is way too big.  I'm thinking maybe 22 ga., and peening that into fine flat sheets.  If I leave it attached to the 22 ga. wire, it might be about right.  If not might have to do some soldering.  Any thoughts at 1:64 scale?  The problem with 22 ga. seems to me to be able to keep it straight without curves and bends as it is soft.  Mine is real soft like phone wire.
 
Yes, copper is more malleable then brass but it's also softer and in the unhardened state too flexible at these small sizes.  22 gauge measures out at close to 0.65 mm, which is kinda small but doable for the harpoon head but not so good for the shaft.  I would guess that the shaft should be about 2.5 inches in diameter for a good grip and handhold.  That translates to 1 mm at your scale.  
Okay, first the business end of your harpoon.  That 22 gauge wire is pretty good when flattened.  Then you can shape it with a tiny file.
Now, what about the shaft.  There are a few options
One is to use the same 22 gauge copper wire but you said it's kinda flimsy.  You can stiffen or harden it by stretching the wire by pulling on it.  Not so hard that it breaks but just enough to harden it some.
Another thing you can do is solder the harpoon point it to a 1 mm brass rod.  Flatten the stub end of the harpoon point but that should already be flat from your shaping step, then flatten about 2 to 3mm mm of the brass rod end and solder these two pieces together.  You determine how long the shaft has to be in scale.
 
I thought of using a 1.5 mm brass or copper tube for the shaft but that is too large for anyone to hold at almost 4 inches in diameter (at 1 to 1).  Thus that won't work.  A 1 mm wooden dowel is risky because it may warp.
 
Now, you can also make the entire harpoon out of one piece using either a 1 mm copper or brass rod.  Brass my be what I would try first.   Flatten the end and shape your harpoon point.  That flattening should be done with a 1/4 or 3/8 inch diameter pin punch.  That way you can come close to how much you want flat and leave the rest round for the shaft.  That way there is no soldering involved, just a little more work with the file.  You can also soften the brass with heat if your "peening" hardens it too much and makes it brittle.  Also, you should work from both ends, pound a little on one side then continue on the reverse side.
You should have a nice piece of smooth flat steel to hammer on (I should actually say, tap on).  
 
I hope this works for you, give it a try and see what comes out and let me know.
 
Cheers, 
 

nice over view John...the deck layout is looking really sweet!

Great pics John.  Your new skylight looks terrific, as does the rest of the ship.  Boy, you're really steaming ahead now!

These also show overall views of the entire deck.

OK, here's today's minor progress.  With all going on, I even managed to get a little work done in the shipyard.  I got the main hatch done, painted and glued to the deck.  The pictures show it still wet, so it will look better tomorrow when all is dry and nothing is showing.  Tomorrow I'll work on the Fife Rail and some Bits that need to be added.  Maybe even a harpoon or two.

Hello Guys, I am happy to be back in the shipyards again.  I know many of you have missed me, and I greatly appreciate that.  In the jest of this Forum, I please ask you to refrain from the "welcome backs"  and the yada yada that could go with it.  I know many of you know what I'm talking about.  I will be posting photo's shortly of the progress that has been made during my absence from the yard.  Please PM or email me at: email address removed by moderator to prevent spamming should any one need to discuss something out of the build logs, since we are trying to keep the build logs primarily  ship related.  Let's liven this place up some and get to posting update pictures and discussions and quit looking over our shoulders--- we Are among friends here. We should police ourselves if you know what I mean.  More to come a little later, now let's start livening this "morgue" up again and keep up the good work all of you are doing......

Thank you Piet.  I knew you could have an answer.  I never thought about copper.  What gauge wire would you reccomend.  I have some 14 ga, and maybe some smaller ..... I forgot that copper is more pliable than brass.  I'll play around and see what I get.  Thank you my friend....moving on....Proost good Ale again...

OK, here's today's minor progress.  With all going on, I even managed to get a little work done in the shipyard.  I got the main hatch done, painted and glued to the deck.  The pictures show it still wet, so it will look better tomorrow when all is dry and nothing is showing.  Tomorrow I'll work on the Fife Rail and some Bits that need to be added.  Maybe even a harpoon or two.

These also show overall views of the entire deck.

These also show overall views of the entire deck.

OK, here's today's minor progress.  With all going on, I even managed to get a little work done in the shipyard.  I got the main hatch done, painted and glued to the deck.  The pictures show it still wet, so it will look better tomorrow when all is dry and nothing is showing.  Tomorrow I'll work on the Fife Rail and some Bits that need to be added.  Maybe even a harpoon or two.