shipmodel

I think part of the reason that the alignment of the chains looks a little off has to do with the fact that the Heller kit was not designed for the main and fore channels to be beneath the main deck guns.  They were originally designed to mount above the main deck guns.
 
That meant that my shrouds had to navigate safely around the f’ocsle/q’deck guns, and the main deck guns, while the chains had to be clear of the port lids of the middle battery.
 
With all of that in mind, I tied a string around each masthead and plotted both the shrouds and their corresponding chains.  By necessity, in some instances, the angle of the chain breaks plane with the shroud.
 
As with so many details of this modification process, it is an imperfect compromise.

Hi Marc - 
 
Really nice looking work, and thanks for taking us on the journey, potholes and all.
 
I had the same question as Kirill.  How did you aim your deadeye/chainplate units at the future masthead location?
 
Dan

Hi Marc - 
 
Really nice looking work, and thanks for taking us on the journey, potholes and all.
 
I had the same question as Kirill.  How did you aim your deadeye/chainplate units at the future masthead location?
 
Dan

Hi Marc - 
 
Really nice looking work, and thanks for taking us on the journey, potholes and all.
 
I had the same question as Kirill.  How did you aim your deadeye/chainplate units at the future masthead location?
 
Dan

Hi Marc - 
 
Really nice looking work, and thanks for taking us on the journey, potholes and all.
 
I had the same question as Kirill.  How did you aim your deadeye/chainplate units at the future masthead location?
 
Dan

Ps. I don’t use sharpies or any other kind of normal permanent marker pen, for that very reason (I use them all the time for plant pot labels and you’re right, they fade to grey within a year). I use Pentel acrylic art pens, I can’t say whether they have the same issue, only that none of the ‘pen-painted’ parts I’ve been handled this morning, at least some of which were painted a year or more back, have lost their blackness.
 
BTW, as I’m writing, I also bought a pack of spare ‘nibs’ for the pens, so I can trim one to a very fine point. They go feathery quite quickly but I just trim off the feathers. I’ve found black and gold pens are excellent. Other colours seem to be less opaque so I stick with paints for these.

So, I had a small pocket of time to snug and snip the fore, port channel. I was able to finesse that first knot up a little higher. Really - and considering that they do tighten up just enough more under slight tension - I am very pleased with this experiment. Black touch-up paint to follow:


I am at least confident that these long links would not look better as wire. I may have over-calculated the angle of the two furthest aft preventer plates, but I was just following what the test line told me to do. Also, technically, the preventer plate links should span to the lower wale, but the first batch I made just looked over-long. I can live with this compromise. It is still a vast improvement over the stock kit. The important thing is that the chains no longer interfere with the port lids.

There are three backstay deadeyes that I have yet to prepare, but I will get to them in the next few rounds of deadeye prep.

This business of learning to make the chains continued to confound me as I discovered yet another mistake in my process.
 
For anyone who may also be new to this aspect of the hobby - BEWARE: jewelry wire (brass/copper) is coated with an anti-oxidation layer.  Brass black will not take without first stripping the coating (acetone bath, 99% purity - available at the pharmacy), and then roughing the wire surface with ScotchBrite.  I failed to do either of these things.  For your own sake, just buy untreated, soft copper wire.
 
My first dipping in JAX brass black almost didn’t take at all.  Whatever oxidation there was, was very spotty and wiped away easily.  After thoroughly rinsing the parts in acetone, my second JAX bath did much more to blacken the parts, but the depth of oxidation was highly irregular, there were still lots of completely bright brass patches, throughout, and the oxidation that was present still rubbed off too easily.
 
What to do, now?  I quickly decided that I absolutely was not going to re-make all of these fittings, as I had at least bent them into nicely uniform parts.  The only reasonable solution, IMO, was to spray-prime the lot black:
 

After inserting the deadeyes, and any necessary touch-up, the deadeye strops looked like this:

Quite satisfactory, I think.  On the inside, bottom edge of each deadeye, I placed a drop of CA, in order to fix the orientation of the deadeye.
 
I needed to make a run of split-rings, both for the gun out-haul tackles, and for between where the chains attach to the middle wales.
 
For these, I really like how tight a twist I get with galvanized steel wire.  Given that I was going to paint these, as well, it didn’t seem quite so important what the material was, but how it behaved.


I found it quite easy to close the eyes with my parallel pliers, a decent set of which are essential for this work (Thanks Druxey!), and I sealed the rings with a spot of common, brush-able CRAZY GLUE.
 
The eyes on deck:


In preparation for the deadeyes, I made ready the channels.  Because I found it necessary to shift a handful of deadeyes, so that the chains do not interfere with the gunport lids, I found it necessary to widen a number of the channel slots.  I then drilled for short sections of .030 styrene rod, so that I could favor one side of the slot:


Next I made capping strips for the outside edges of the channels, and simulated the nailing with shallow slices of triangular styrene rod.  I used the same “heat flashing” technique to dome over the heads:

With my masts in-place and a guide-string, I penciled-in the preventer plate locations.
 
The important thing, I think, was that the join of the preventer plates and the small loop-links be in a consistent plane, along the upper middle wale - just slightly higher than mid-wale.
 
Following a tip from fellow SR enthusiast Eric Wiberg, I purchased the following dome-headed rivets:
 
https://www.eugenetoyandhobby.com/products/plastic-rivets-round-head?_pos=3&_sid=320937e14&_ss=r
 
My idea was to use these with plastic cement to secure the preventer and loop links.
 
After drilling the top preventer plate/loop-link hole, I secure the position of the preventer plate with a common sewing pin in the top hole, and then swing a short mechanical pencil arc for the bottom hole location.
 
There are very slight differences between preventer plate links, so you do have to drill specific links for a given location.  It is very fiddly to fix the plates with these tiny styrene pins, but it can be managed from the bottom up with plenty of patience and a sewing pin to guide mating eyes into alignment.
 
Now, my hope for some time and results redemption depended upon whether or not I could make appropriate diameter thread look like the long connecting links.
 
Among my stash, was some really nice line that Dan Pariser very generously donated to my cause.  Although light in color, I found I could “paint” lengths of line with two passes of a black sharpie, which also gave the line some stiffness when dry.  I found that a single bow-knot gave me the ability to introduce tension to these links:
 
Obviously, it is important to ensure that the loop links and deadeye strops are in the correct orientation to each other.
 
The proof of concept on this first link gave me sufficient confidence that this idea will produce a nice result.  It is only important that one wait to stiffen the knot with CA until after you have pulled the knot up close behind the deadeye strop loop.  On this first one, I glued before doing so, and the knot is less perfectly concealed than the others will be:

This picture above was before pulling the knot up.  Eventually, when the lower deadeyes are lashed to their corresponding upper deadeyes, these chain links will pull fully taught with just the slightest tension.
 
Here is where things stand as of now:

I quickly learned it is wise to cover the gun ports, so that you are not continually losing links into the hull.  After pinning the links in place, I brushed over the link assembly with thin CA, to give it a little extra holding power.  I then left it to dry overnight.
 
Next, I will draw all remaining loops taught, and then the whole of it will receive a thinned acrylic black wash to homogenize the assembly and touch-up any bright spots.
 
There are, of course, many better ways to go about all of this.  For me, for now - I’ll take this all as a learning experience and move-on with it.
 
Thank you all for looking-in!
 
Best,
 
Marc
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi Cisco - 
 
I really like the half-lapped miter joints.  I have always used simpler lap joints, but yours are beautiful, justifying the extra work.
 
If I have a suggestion, it is to make the gratings first, before the coamings.  
If a coaming is a little larger or smaller than the plans, no one can tell.
If the grating does not fit the coaming, everyone notices.
 
Looking forward to more.  Be well.
 
Dan
 

Hi Cisco - 
 
I really like the half-lapped miter joints.  I have always used simpler lap joints, but yours are beautiful, justifying the extra work.
 
If I have a suggestion, it is to make the gratings first, before the coamings.  
If a coaming is a little larger or smaller than the plans, no one can tell.
If the grating does not fit the coaming, everyone notices.
 
Looking forward to more.  Be well.
 
Dan
 

Hi Cisco - 
 
I really like the half-lapped miter joints.  I have always used simpler lap joints, but yours are beautiful, justifying the extra work.
 
If I have a suggestion, it is to make the gratings first, before the coamings.  
If a coaming is a little larger or smaller than the plans, no one can tell.
If the grating does not fit the coaming, everyone notices.
 
Looking forward to more.  Be well.
 
Dan
 

Hi Cisco - 
 
I really like the half-lapped miter joints.  I have always used simpler lap joints, but yours are beautiful, justifying the extra work.
 
If I have a suggestion, it is to make the gratings first, before the coamings.  
If a coaming is a little larger or smaller than the plans, no one can tell.
If the grating does not fit the coaming, everyone notices.
 
Looking forward to more.  Be well.
 
Dan
 

Hi Jesse - 
 
It was a pleasure to meet you earlier today and look at this little gem in person.
I think you made an excellent go of the many issues and problems that you encountered in your first wooden ship model.
Keep up the good work.
 
You asked about some of my other works, and you can see some of the build logs in my profile, or in the Gallery.
I'm always happy to answer any questions that may come to mind.
 
Be well
 
Dan

Hi Jesse - 
 
It was a pleasure to meet you earlier today and look at this little gem in person.
I think you made an excellent go of the many issues and problems that you encountered in your first wooden ship model.
Keep up the good work.
 
You asked about some of my other works, and you can see some of the build logs in my profile, or in the Gallery.
I'm always happy to answer any questions that may come to mind.
 
Be well
 
Dan

Hi Jesse - 
 
It was a pleasure to meet you earlier today and look at this little gem in person.
I think you made an excellent go of the many issues and problems that you encountered in your first wooden ship model.
Keep up the good work.
 
You asked about some of my other works, and you can see some of the build logs in my profile, or in the Gallery.
I'm always happy to answer any questions that may come to mind.
 
Be well
 
Dan

Margin planking has been installed on the port side!
 

This is very exciting because once I am finished with the margin planks on the starboard side, full deck planking can proceed rapidly (with a deck framing reveal on the port side).
 
As you can see, some repainting of the deck framing that will be revealed is in order.

Hi Ron - 
 
Nice work on the steps.  Building something as complex as a ship model always requires dozens and dozens of individual decisions.
I like the ones you have made.
 
I hope that I will get to see her in person in New London at the end of the month.
 
Dan

I can’t escape the fact that I continue to fail at this chain-making exercise.  As the old maxim goes, though, every failure is one step closer to success.
 
I’ve now thrown away two whole batches of chain preventer plates.  While I was quite right to follow Andre Kudin’s example, for the process of their manufacture, I eventually discovered that that process is not entirely transferable from 1:48 to 1:96 scale.
 
After forming his basic links, Andre solders them closed at one end, and then places the closed link back onto the two pins so that he can crimp an eye on each end with his round pliers.
 
Well, the 28 gauge brass wire I’m using does not provide enough surface area for a strong enough bond to survive the crimping.  My success to failure ratio was pretty poor:

So, my lesson from that exercise was that I needed to do the crimping before soldering one end closed:

These soldered loops will be the lowest end of the chains, bolted into the wales.  That way, I could induce a series of bends into the upper half of each preventer plate, so that they could overlay the next small link:

Above I’m just using another preventer plate to check that the bends I’m making are sufficient.
 
So, I spent a good chunk of time cleaning up the solder and inducing bends into the remainder of the preventer plates.  The solder joint will be re-enforced with the CA glue that fixes the pin-bolt in place:

With that out of the way, I could make a new, slightly closer-spaced pin jig for the next small link, which is only crimped on one end, where it seats beneath the preventer plate.
 
Now that I have a process that I know will work, and now that I’ve had all of this practice, these next links should go fairly quickly:


I have a lot of these to make, solder and bend - about 70 to ensure I can use the best.  This has all been a colossal PITA, but it was really important to me that all of this look very clean and uniformly shaped.  In the process, I have acquired some very valuable metal skills that will only enhance this and future projects.
 
That said, I am going to experiment with using black nylon thread of an appropriate diameter to connect the deadeye strop loops to the small links.  This would essentially be a variation on the way that the stock kit represents these links, but I will do individual chain loops that draw tight with some form of slip-knot that I can pull up and hide behind the deadeye strop.
 
Andre had a great method for producing these variances, but it is all just that much more tedious in the smaller scale.
 
The advantages of doing this are several.  So long as there is not a jarring difference in appearance between the black thread and the blackened metal, it will save me tremendous amounts of time.  It also simplifies the difficulty of accurately measuring and keeping track of a series of increasingly longer links as the shroud angle increases from fore to aft.  Lastly, it greatly simplifies the placement of the deadeyes because I can add the retaining strip, in advance, and it also makes it much easier to locate and properly secure the bottom two links.  Hopefully, that will work out.  
 
Well, I keep saying that I’m going to get back in the swing of the project, and then I get sucked into coaching another basketball team - now my son’s Spring rec team.  Meanwhile, the Rangers and Knicks are just too compelling to ignore this post-season.  At least for now, I can see the end of the tunnel for these chains, which is tremendously motivating, and then I can return to the more immediately gratifying work of outfitting and arming the main deck.
 
Thank you all for taking the time to look back in on This Old Build.  More to come!
 

Boarding steps--


 
I would have made the steps the full width of the hammock opening, but the carronade position wouldn't allow it.   The hammock position corresponds to Chappelle's sail plan drawing and also the location of the outboard boarding steps shown on the hull plan, but a little foresight may have warranted shifting the steps and opening just a bit.
 
Ron
 

Continuation: Equipment of the mizzen topgallant yard – Vergue de perruche 
After a short creative break, we continue with the equipment of the mizzen topgallant yard. The equipment and rigging elements basically correspond to those of the fore topgallant yard, but again with correspondingly smaller dimensions. The mizzen topgallant tye is also equipped with a hook. At around 4 mm long, this is even smaller than the hook for the tye of the fore topgallant yard. Of course, the eye splice couldn't be missing either. With a rope with a diameter of 0.35 mm (2x3 Japanese silk thread - rope in the original ø 17 mm) this is a difficult matter, but after some practice it is definitely doable. It just looks better and corresponds to the original design.
As already described several times, I use an injection needle as a hollow spike for splicing, with a diameter of 0.8 mm for the thin ropes.

 
In the next picture you can see the mizzen topgallant tye with the double strop and the thimble already tied on to guide the simple clueline.

 
Sequel follows …

Thanks Dan!  I'm exceptionally lucky to have the library's 3D machines (and the laser cutters!) freely available to me within a 1/2 hour walk. Apparently they are soon to upgrade to newer and better models 😊. Have you tried TinkerCAD? It's much simpler to learn than other CAD tools although obviously more limited too. For rectangular things like ladders and gratings it is super easy to draw what you want. The fantail fingers are about as complicated as I'd like to get in TinkerCAD.
 
Yes, you are right about the order of painting. I have now painted the black between the fingers which I should have done first. Now touching up the white then will redo the black edge trim.
 
I looked up your "albums" here on MSW. Wow! They're beautiful models. I especially like the "Maine" and the Viking knarr.
 
Thanks for commenting,
Ian

Hi Ian - 
 
Really nice work on the ship.  I am truly envious of your expertise with 3-D printing.  It is a technology that I have not mastered and am reduced to buying pre-made parts from Shapeways and then modifying them as needed.  Very well done, sir.
 
As for painting, perhaps you could paint the fingers black first, then overpaint with silver, which you can access easily from both sides.  You should be able to get clean separation lines either freehand or with some fairly simple masks.
 
Dan

Hi Ian - 
 
Really nice work on the ship.  I am truly envious of your expertise with 3-D printing.  It is a technology that I have not mastered and am reduced to buying pre-made parts from Shapeways and then modifying them as needed.  Very well done, sir.
 
As for painting, perhaps you could paint the fingers black first, then overpaint with silver, which you can access easily from both sides.  You should be able to get clean separation lines either freehand or with some fairly simple masks.
 
Dan

Hi Ian - 
 
Really nice work on the ship.  I am truly envious of your expertise with 3-D printing.  It is a technology that I have not mastered and am reduced to buying pre-made parts from Shapeways and then modifying them as needed.  Very well done, sir.
 
As for painting, perhaps you could paint the fingers black first, then overpaint with silver, which you can access easily from both sides.  You should be able to get clean separation lines either freehand or with some fairly simple masks.
 
Dan

Hi Ian - 
 
Really nice work on the ship.  I am truly envious of your expertise with 3-D printing.  It is a technology that I have not mastered and am reduced to buying pre-made parts from Shapeways and then modifying them as needed.  Very well done, sir.
 
As for painting, perhaps you could paint the fingers black first, then overpaint with silver, which you can access easily from both sides.  You should be able to get clean separation lines either freehand or with some fairly simple masks.
 
Dan