texxn5

Good luck with the move, Popeye - and will pull up a seat for this build.  It promises to be an interesting journey!
 
Here, so the Admiral doesn't need to supply it, is the pop corn machine.  Will let Mark supply the beer!
 

where do I begin..........this project was to be well under way by now,  but the way thing panned out,  it has had a very rocky start.   I had thought of the concept during the build of the M&M fun ship,  and my idea was to build three ships.......one of them was to see if there was a market for such a thing.   during all this time,  I've come up with a few more ideas,   so I am going to do them with different ideas......three different concepts,  and see which one works best.   as the title implies,  they will have a holiday theme.....being careful not to offend anyone.   it is my hope that everyone enjoys the construction and creative aspects.
 
we turn the dial of the way-back machine back to December of 2012........I was planning on starting it then.   I had cut the keel parts for two of them,  and the ribs for the first one.  my plan was to begin at this point.  the hulls of these boats will be modeled,  based on the Billing's kit Boulogne Etaples.  the hull parts were traced from the parts panels........sadly,  the panels did not survive the tracing of the rest of the parts.   I had begun to assemble the first keel.
 

 

 
I had made up the stern parts for all three,  but did not use them all.   to save money on wood,  I purchased a 4' x 4' square 3/16 oak plywood panel,  later to be stripped out and used for the rest of the parts.   I ended up making another stern part for the third keel,  so it would be of the same thickness.
 

 

 

 
the project stopped for a while.........until May of this year.   I assembled the keel for the second ship,  but not much else.
 

 
it was not long after this picture was taken,  that the plywood was purchased.........and stripped out a bit later than that.   a couple of weeks ago,  the admiral asked me about them,  suggesting that I should get busy on them,  if I want them for the holidays.   of course,  I laughed........and told her that they would not be done this year,  perhaps next season would be more realistic.  the panels were traced out last week......and the parts were cut out this past Tuesday.   at this point,  two of the hull frames are assembled,  and the third is on the slip.   I should have an update on this build soon.
 
and.......what's life without a few chiggers in it.   things have been rather hectic around the house lately.......we are about to make a move to the third floor of our apartment house........purely a financial move.  so I may be a bit silent here and there,  until these hulls are planked,  and we can get past the crazy stuff.   I can clear my mind of all these ideas......but the most important thing,  to finally get this project of the ground and on the move     I had such a good time with the M&M build,  that I really wanted to get into another one.   it was so easy to come up with this concept......and the directions that these ships can take,  is endless.   for the moment,  the directions will not be brought into it......the construction of the hulls will come first..........but I will mention that the deck layouts will be different to suit their subjects.   this is big.........an armada of holiday vessels.......I hope you enjoy what is to come.
 
 

looks great John.......what occupies the space in the front?

Well, this morning I got some fiddly stuff done to the aft of the Hurricane Roof House, built the ladder and handrail, attached and painted them.  I am now I think Officially finished with the Hurricane House, Tiller & Wheel.   I'm starting to figure out that some of "white" looking spots in the painting, is actually reflexions from the powerful flash on the camera.  If it was't so cold I'd go outside and take a few photos to compare.

a couple more

and some different perspectives

Thanks John.  I will probably pop in and out periodically.  I have full time work and full time school and two kids so time get's limited.  It's nice to take a break for a second every now and again and enjoy some great builds.  

Wow, John - you are really moving along with this one!  VERY nice work - looking forward to the next update!

Hello every one and thanks to Mark, Daniel, Sjors, Nenad and Freek for dropping in, much appreciate the encouragement. 
 
@ Freek, You know, I just overlooked that anchor on the floor of the dock, even with that cable running down.  Hmmm - - - what kind of excuses can I dream up - - - Not many, just not paying attention    And yes, that looks like a Hall type anchor all right.  Should be an interesting project making one. 
 
Well, today the Admiral wanted me to cut down a bush or two in the backyard so very little time in the shipyard. I did manage to cut the decking pieces between the rails over the deck torp launcher and cement them in.
 
Then I dry-fit the N-gauge rail tracks to see how they look but now I have to grind off the sides of the top of the rails.  It measured to .8 mm and at my scale of 1:50 that works out to 40 mm wide.  Much to wide for the original rails.  After grinding away the excess it measured to .2 mm which is closer to scale.  I can't get it any thinner and besides, it is the same thickness as the brass rails I made for over the deck torp launcher.  It's just a lot of work to that to do all the rails though but so what - - - 
 
I also started on making the two small net / cable cutters at the stern end just forward and above the propeller bearing housing.  
 
The mailman also delivered the 21/32 inch brass tubing for the crew escape hatches      Now I can also cut them to size and make the ladders for them.  I think though that I'll make the bow net / cable cutters and install them first.  I need to lift the model out of it's build dock to fasten them to the bottom part and need to have the deck clear of any obstructions.
 
Let me show the work I did this afternoon, I'm quite happy with it   
 

This is looking forward and shows the rails and associated decking installed.  Remember that I cut that part of the deck out some time ago and only made two rails for one row of hatch doors.  This was not in accordance with the drawings and photos of the real boat.  So I had to redo all that.  I tried to make the deck pieces fit as tight as I could manage and even the photos show very little edge seams, I am happy with it.  There is no putty used!  The "teak" deck slats will cover most of whatever seam is visible and then painted.
That steel hunk to the left in the pic is a bucking bar (I used in a previous life repairing aircraft) to hold the deck pieces down, the same with the socket wrenches with a steel bar on top.  As it turned out it didn't hold the pieces down tight enough so I mixed some 1 minute epoxy and held it down by hand.  Yeah, it says it's 5 minute epoxy but even when I mix less hardener in it it still cures rather fast.  I don't mind it but I can only work with one or two things at a time.
 

This is the same work but now looking aft.  
 
Cheers, 

Piet,
 
looking at the photo, I'd say that the first of your two anchors is closest to the one on the sub.
 
John

Greetings to Elia, Popeye, Banyan, Sjors, Anthony, Ian and Boris and thank you all for dropping in.  Did you get enough beer and popcorn?  Sjors was buying   
 
@ Ian, you know, our daughter is still talking about it and planning to build that railroad.  She and I designed a nice little mining and lumbering layout, with a small river loading dock! 
As far as the mine issue goes, it's really tempting but let me get my head wrapped around drawing up the plans for the con first, then we;ll see - - - - or sooner 
 
@ Boris, yes, thanks for sending these, they are great and add to my collection.  I have send you also a few pics I found in my files and the digital pics Remco send me from the Navy Archive.  You could machine them from copper or wood or sculpt them from Sculpy.  I'm waiting for the copper that Paul mailed to me and will try to use that.
 
@ Popeye, thanks for looking.  Remco also came up with an idea and we are looking into that as well.  Fortunately there are only a few letters and numbers I need    The small ones at the bow for the load levels are the ones that can be gotten from model railroad places.
 
Well, today was also a day away from the shipyard.  Went to our monthly colored pencil society chapter meeting and then mowed our backyard lawn.  
Besides the mine issue I am also in a dilemma about the bow side anchor.  Remco went to the Navy Archive and could find nothing on that anchor but according to three photos I have there seem to have been a small standard anchor.  I'll show the pics below.  I won't cut into the side of the deck structure until I have something more positive on the anchor.  I think that this will also be guesswork but as long as it looks similar to what I see on the photo then I'll be happy.
 
I'll also add a few pics of mines being loaded.  These are training mines by the way.  This too was not a simple procedure.
 
 
This shows the O 19 surfacing after a test dive in Scotland after she was overhauled in 1944.  When you enlarge the picture you should be able to see the bottom of a small anchor.
 

This is what I think this anchor could look like.
 

This is another example of the type anchor they could have used, much smaller of course.
 

 

 
Cheers, 
 
 
 

Thanks Augie.....for the confidence.....I have some ideas in mind for building it.  I have photos of the real thing, and I really studied it while I was in Mystic.  The instructions and plans are pretty vague.  My biggest problem will be figuring out the wood strips to keep the proper scale so the details look good.  It hopefully will turn out to be a good addition to the Hurricane House.  I need to build a ladder and rail for the roof of the Hurricane House first.  Admiral duty took precedence today.  Not sure if I'll get anything done tonight or not, we might go get some good Mexican Food tonight so being fat, dumb and happy and after a couple of good Dos Equis, I might not get to the shipyard......tomorrow is another day.....

Hi Edwin, the decks are swabbed and clean....the Admiral is happy....

wouldn't have it any other way,  my friend 

Thanks Augie.....for the confidence.....I have some ideas in mind for building it.  I have photos of the real thing, and I really studied it while I was in Mystic.  The instructions and plans are pretty vague.  My biggest problem will be figuring out the wood strips to keep the proper scale so the details look good.  It hopefully will turn out to be a good addition to the Hurricane House.  I need to build a ladder and rail for the roof of the Hurricane House first.  Admiral duty took precedence today.  Not sure if I'll get anything done tonight or not, we might go get some good Mexican Food tonight so being fat, dumb and happy and after a couple of good Dos Equis, I might not get to the shipyard......tomorrow is another day.....

look in the scratch section.....I started the Holiday armada 

Hi Popeye, yes, freeze here tonight....I thought I left this stuff up north.   This is way too early for snow and freezing weather here.  Plano is a suburb of Dallas.  My ex brother in law used to live there before moving farther north to Lewisville.  Dallas gets way too cold for me.  I'm from 300 miles south of Houston near Corpus Christi.  Much better weather there.  I think it's time to go to the Keys.....came home too soon.  The deck is starting to finish off nicely.  I'm pleased.  Off to the skylight after my ladder.  Might take some time to build it....lots of small details... looking forward to it.  When are you going to build something else???  I need something to critique......lol

You can handle it   

and one more

a couple of more

I'm posting lot's of pictures for anyone that has an interest in building this ship.  There are vague instructions and tricky plans to read if you aren't used to pulling several drawings together to figure out one part...and no photo's except what's been taken of the real ship...

Can't wait to see you tackle that skylight John.

Hi John,
 
Thanks for the PICTURES !!!!!!
 
Great job what you are doing !
 

Aye John lad,ya need to swab ye deck,before yon Captain see"s the dusty deeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!Edwin     (nice)  

Wow Augies right about warp speed.  I blinked and missed half the build...and the poop deck jokes.   All well she looks great!  Seem's like I remember this being a ship no one ever finished.  The rate your going she'll be an inspiration to those that haven't.