AndyMech

The wheel box was next.  I constructed the body out of 3/64" thick wood and the tops are both 1/64" thick, or close enough.  I finally drug out my only powered tool - a pencil sander - to thin the top pieces.  I had been doing it by hand for other deck elements, but the results were uneven.  The sander was easier to get an even thinning.
 
The wheel is painted burnt sienna and brass.  I might be getting decent at making these box-like pieces, but I have to admit its getting a little repetitive.  That's ok, I'm such a slow builder that if I get bored, I just take a break for a day or two and get back to it.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Andy.

Hi friends:
I am almost finishing the deck furniture (so many details!!  ).  Now  there are the Fife Rails, including the winches:
 

 
Saludos, Karl
 
 

The wheel box was next.  I constructed the body out of 3/64" thick wood and the tops are both 1/64" thick, or close enough.  I finally drug out my only powered tool - a pencil sander - to thin the top pieces.  I had been doing it by hand for other deck elements, but the results were uneven.  The sander was easier to get an even thinning.
 
The wheel is painted burnt sienna and brass.  I might be getting decent at making these box-like pieces, but I have to admit its getting a little repetitive.  That's ok, I'm such a slow builder that if I get bored, I just take a break for a day or two and get back to it.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Andy.

The wheel box was next.  I constructed the body out of 3/64" thick wood and the tops are both 1/64" thick, or close enough.  I finally drug out my only powered tool - a pencil sander - to thin the top pieces.  I had been doing it by hand for other deck elements, but the results were uneven.  The sander was easier to get an even thinning.
 
The wheel is painted burnt sienna and brass.  I might be getting decent at making these box-like pieces, but I have to admit its getting a little repetitive.  That's ok, I'm such a slow builder that if I get bored, I just take a break for a day or two and get back to it.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Andy.

The wheel box was next.  I constructed the body out of 3/64" thick wood and the tops are both 1/64" thick, or close enough.  I finally drug out my only powered tool - a pencil sander - to thin the top pieces.  I had been doing it by hand for other deck elements, but the results were uneven.  The sander was easier to get an even thinning.
 
The wheel is painted burnt sienna and brass.  I might be getting decent at making these box-like pieces, but I have to admit its getting a little repetitive.  That's ok, I'm such a slow builder that if I get bored, I just take a break for a day or two and get back to it.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Andy.

Today I painted the fighting top and added it's railing.  I did the inside floor of it gray, which matches my Revell Constitution, and I like the contrast with the white elsewhere.  The gray took only 3 coats to cover, while the white takes about 9-10.  It could be my white paint has been thinned too often, but at least the end results are ok.
 
Tomorrow, I paint the lower mast - you guessed it - white.  It will probably take all day.
 




 
Andy.

Next in the instruction manual is the binnacle.  This is very small - it's difficult to work with wood and glue at these sizes.
 
Instead of carving a hole, I just painted a black oval to simulate it.  Also, the ribbing was made by taking a 1/32" square piece and cutting it in half twice to make 1/64" square rods, which were then stained, cut and glued around in two bands.  Crazy.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up is the wheel box, which feels gigantic in comparison.
 
Andy.

Steve, as for the hull finish, that is a good question.  I did apply a layer or two of wipe-on poly to it, just to protect it while I work on the rest.  I usually paint over wipe-on poly anyway, so doing that doesn't preclude me from painting it.  Probably does prevent me from staining it though, now that I think about it.
 
I haven't really looked it at recently, as I've been focused on the deck furniture, and one of the other Baltimore builders regretted (at least initially) his painting of the hull green, so I really don't know at this point.
 
Andy.

After a few weeks of work, the main salon trunk is finished.  I will leave the bell to later as I need some bronze paint for the currently-silver bell and it shouldn't be too difficult to add it later.
 
The progression of photos shows the construction order, I used clear plastic for the hatch windows even though you can clearly see the planks underneath it.  For some reason, that doesn't bother me overly at the moment.
 
Andy.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Next up in the hatch parade is the crew access/galley hatch.  This is a little more intricate, but not too bad.  Took me two weeks to complete.
 
First, I framed up the walls, added the stained roof pieces and some inner walls.  My sliding hatch doesn't move, so everything is glued down tight.
 

 

 

 

 
Next, hatches were added to the top - there are 3 here: a long, dual portlight hatch on the left side, a single smaller one on the right and frame for the galley stack also on the right.  A life ring is placed on the sliding flat portion.  I mixed my own orange color from the ship's yellow and red (too little paint to go out and purchase), and I also left the galley stack chimney the base metal color - seems to match the ship better than the bronze the instructions called for.
 

 

 

 
Finally, a shot of the ship as it stands right now, before I continue onto the next largest hatch:
 

 
Andy
 
 
 

Ok, this weekend I finished up the Engine Access hatch.  
 
First, I created the 4 sides, lettering them to know which to glue to which:
 

 

 
I added a thin 1/32" roof, and stained and glued it to the frame, after painting the frame.
 

 
The plans call for 2 small 1/64" steel rods to be hung by some very very small mounts on the side of the hatch.  I used 26 gauge electrical wire from work, and made the wood mounts with lots of careful filing and sanding.
 

 
Finally, the top hatches - one on each side, and each has a portlight installed at the top.  I used 1/32" inch wood for this, and sanded the extensions down to 1/64 as best I could.  The top hatch covers were also sanded down to 1/64" thickness.
 

 

 

 
Andy.

My understanding is the compass is housed in the binnacle, and the hole is glass covered to keep the compass protected while allowing it to be viewed.
 
Cutting the hole now, once assembled and glued is likely too damaging for me to attempt. One of my goals for this build was to experiment with different techniques to see how they work out, so this was one of those experiments.
 
Andy

Next in the instruction manual is the binnacle.  This is very small - it's difficult to work with wood and glue at these sizes.
 
Instead of carving a hole, I just painted a black oval to simulate it.  Also, the ribbing was made by taking a 1/32" square piece and cutting it in half twice to make 1/64" square rods, which were then stained, cut and glued around in two bands.  Crazy.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up is the wheel box, which feels gigantic in comparison.
 
Andy.

Next in the instruction manual is the binnacle.  This is very small - it's difficult to work with wood and glue at these sizes.
 
Instead of carving a hole, I just painted a black oval to simulate it.  Also, the ribbing was made by taking a 1/32" square piece and cutting it in half twice to make 1/64" square rods, which were then stained, cut and glued around in two bands.  Crazy.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up is the wheel box, which feels gigantic in comparison.
 
Andy.

Popeye: the skylight has already been glued down - prematurely I suppose.  I'll keep my eye open for a good solution.  I suppose I could unglue it, but generally I hate to do that -it causes more work and mars the wood and I would be concerned of the planks also coming unglued.  I could also remove the planking from below the skylight as the whole unit is not glued to the coamings,  that will allow for access to the underside.  We'll see.
 
Moving forward:  
 
There are 2 vent boxes in the plans - without coamings, but with little feet bolted to the deck.  It looks like, from photos of the actual ship that something has changed and there are coamings now, but I went with the plans and used the feet instead.
 

 

 

 
These are just placed at the moment, not glued as there are other pieces of deck furniture to add.  I think I'll create all the rest of the furniture before permanently placing on deck.
 
Andy.

After a few weeks of work, the main salon trunk is finished.  I will leave the bell to later as I need some bronze paint for the currently-silver bell and it shouldn't be too difficult to add it later.
 
The progression of photos shows the construction order, I used clear plastic for the hatch windows even though you can clearly see the planks underneath it.  For some reason, that doesn't bother me overly at the moment.
 
Andy.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Finally, I thought I'd post a larger picture of the current full profile length of my Baltimore:
 

 
Andy.

Next up is the 2nd largest hatch - the main salon companion way and trunk.  This took me a little over 2 weeks to complete, it's the first to have a planked top and some very small and thin molding.
 
The main issue I had, after creating the initial box, was to get the edges to overhang by 1/32".  I wanted this to be as precise and consistent as possible.  The box itself is created with 3/64" thick walls, which one the forward and aft edges, meant there was only 1/64" of available gluing space for the 1/32" frame.  
 
Here was my solution:
 

 
I used clips to sandwich a 1/32" thick scrap piece between the edge of the frame and another piece to mark the edge of the piece to glue.  I did this on all 4 sides, then glued in the larger of the edge pieces first:
 

 
With those in place, I managed to glue the thinner fore/aft edging:
 

 
Now, I made each plank to fit the newly formed frame, labeled them and stained them before gluing.
 

 
The rest is more-or-less straightforward:  plank the top, create the sliding hatch and small access hatch with portlights:
 

 

 

 

 
Here it is on the ship:
 

 
Also, I did add 1/32" x 1"64" molding below the top by sanding down a 1/16" x "1/32 to 1/64" thick and the slicing it in half.  The resulting pieces are super fragile and difficult to manipulate, but I was able to glue them in well.
  I hope to repeat these techniques for the final, largest hatch, at least for the framing and planking.  The hatches on top will be different, but no new skills required, I hope.
 
 
Andy.

My understanding is the compass is housed in the binnacle, and the hole is glass covered to keep the compass protected while allowing it to be viewed.
 
Cutting the hole now, once assembled and glued is likely too damaging for me to attempt. One of my goals for this build was to experiment with different techniques to see how they work out, so this was one of those experiments.
 
Andy

Next in the instruction manual is the binnacle.  This is very small - it's difficult to work with wood and glue at these sizes.
 
Instead of carving a hole, I just painted a black oval to simulate it.  Also, the ribbing was made by taking a 1/32" square piece and cutting it in half twice to make 1/64" square rods, which were then stained, cut and glued around in two bands.  Crazy.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up is the wheel box, which feels gigantic in comparison.
 
Andy.

Next in the instruction manual is the binnacle.  This is very small - it's difficult to work with wood and glue at these sizes.
 
Instead of carving a hole, I just painted a black oval to simulate it.  Also, the ribbing was made by taking a 1/32" square piece and cutting it in half twice to make 1/64" square rods, which were then stained, cut and glued around in two bands.  Crazy.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up is the wheel box, which feels gigantic in comparison.
 
Andy.

Next in the instruction manual is the binnacle.  This is very small - it's difficult to work with wood and glue at these sizes.
 
Instead of carving a hole, I just painted a black oval to simulate it.  Also, the ribbing was made by taking a 1/32" square piece and cutting it in half twice to make 1/64" square rods, which were then stained, cut and glued around in two bands.  Crazy.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up is the wheel box, which feels gigantic in comparison.
 
Andy.

Hola a todos:
During the Holidays I had no much time to make some advances in my ship, nonetheless I finished some details:
 
After several tries I make the Step Pads using the Word program of my computer:

 
Also, some of the Bitts, the wood cleats to hang the Life rings and the Gun stowage blocks:
 

 
The channels:
 

 
The Cat Heads:
 

 
The Steps:
 

 
And finally, I varnished the Hull:
 

 
Saludos, Karl
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Here's a method of sorting and storing wood I came up with over the holidays:
 
At work, I found a cardboard box that was used to ship a computer keyboard - it's long and not too tall.  I cut the top lid off, and then cut that lid into strips about an inch wide.  Then, I glued those strips into the bottom of the box to create channels - apply some labels and most of my wood is sorted.  Cheap and quick to create.
 
If I find another box, I can make a second one and just stack them together.
 

 

Popeye: the skylight has already been glued down - prematurely I suppose.  I'll keep my eye open for a good solution.  I suppose I could unglue it, but generally I hate to do that -it causes more work and mars the wood and I would be concerned of the planks also coming unglued.  I could also remove the planking from below the skylight as the whole unit is not glued to the coamings,  that will allow for access to the underside.  We'll see.
 
Moving forward:  
 
There are 2 vent boxes in the plans - without coamings, but with little feet bolted to the deck.  It looks like, from photos of the actual ship that something has changed and there are coamings now, but I went with the plans and used the feet instead.
 

 

 

 
These are just placed at the moment, not glued as there are other pieces of deck furniture to add.  I think I'll create all the rest of the furniture before permanently placing on deck.
 
Andy.