shipmodel

Hello again to all.  My thoughts and best wishes to all who have been affected by hurricane Ian.  Listening to the news reports surely puts our activities in perspective.
 
The next portions of the model to detail were the hull areas and raised decks at the bow and stern.   The exterior of the bow was well visualized in several photographs.  In the one below note the hawse pipe for the anchor, the openings in the bulwarks for the fairleads, and the graphics of the ship’s name and company logo. 
 

 
On the model the hawse pipe was located and a cast hawse lip was attached.  The center of the pipe will be drilled open at a later time for the anchor.  The openings in the bulwarks were drilled open with a smaller bitt, then filed to final size and location with needle files.  The ship name is a homemade decal, blue printed on white film.  After attaching the white edges were painted to blend in with the hull color.  The logo at the bow is also homemade.  The red diamond is printed on white film which was carefully cut to form the white edging.  The triple lines are also decal film individually cut to shape and applied.  All the decals were sealed with clear acrylic gloss.
 

 
Unfortunately there were no comparable photos of the machinery on the bow deck.  Here is the best one, taken from overhead.  As you can see, there is a distinct lack of detail.
 

 
Others taken from various angles show even less information, although in this one I could get the height of the foremast.  Each photo, no matter how blurry, could give me a tiny piece of information to add to the totality.
 

 
The only one that had a clear image was taken from a height level with the deck, and although it gave me some idea of the nature of the deck machinery, the locations and sizes were still mostly guesswork.
 

 
Ultimately I fell back on my experience with other working decks and built up in what I believe is a logical sequence.  I started with the fairleads, which I could see and locate from the photos.  Then I put on bollards to take the lines that came in through the fairleads.  Then a pair of capstans were set between the bollards to haul in the lines.  For the anchor machinery a pair of hawse holes were set on either side of the centerline so the anchor chain can run through a pair of chain brakes and then over the heads of a pair of large winches.  The ship’s bell can actually be seen in some of the photos, so it was turned from a dowel, painted brass and installed on a painted brass rod.
 

 
The fore mast as seen in the photos has a running light at the top on a small platform, a cross arm with floodlights at either end, and a ladder running to the top.  It was constructed from brass tube and rod, with plastic details and a photoetched ladder.
 

 
After painting it was set in place flanked by two round topped ventilators. (Yes, I realized later that it was put in backwards. It was turned around before being permanently installed.  Just put it down to another senior moment.)
 

 
The details of the stern raised deck are equally conjectural.  Here is one of the best images that I could locate of the area.  About all that can be said is that there is a mast, painted white with a black top, that comes out of a slightly curved sun shade over most of the deck.
 

 
The second image is a little clearer and some bollards can be seen as well as a cowl ventilator and an ensign staff.
 

 
Accordingly, I installed a railing around the perimeter of the deck and some 12 stanchions bade of brass rod that will hold up the sun shade.
 

 
And here is the final deck layout.  The fairleads and bollards are cast fittings from Bluejacket, as is the cowl ventilator.  The sun shade is built up of a styrene sheet with a layer of parchment colored paper on top meant to simulate the canvas cover of the original.  It has not been permanently attached to the stanchions as yet until the mast and its guy wires are installed.  Since the deck under the sun shade could not be seen, two simple storage boxes were created and set in place.
 

 
In the next segment the containers will be permanently installed on their various support structures.
 
Until then, be well.
 
Dan

Excellent work Dan. I still don’t know how you manage to interpret those photos. 

Hello again to all.  My thoughts and best wishes to all who have been affected by hurricane Ian.  Listening to the news reports surely puts our activities in perspective.
 
The next portions of the model to detail were the hull areas and raised decks at the bow and stern.   The exterior of the bow was well visualized in several photographs.  In the one below note the hawse pipe for the anchor, the openings in the bulwarks for the fairleads, and the graphics of the ship’s name and company logo. 
 

 
On the model the hawse pipe was located and a cast hawse lip was attached.  The center of the pipe will be drilled open at a later time for the anchor.  The openings in the bulwarks were drilled open with a smaller bitt, then filed to final size and location with needle files.  The ship name is a homemade decal, blue printed on white film.  After attaching the white edges were painted to blend in with the hull color.  The logo at the bow is also homemade.  The red diamond is printed on white film which was carefully cut to form the white edging.  The triple lines are also decal film individually cut to shape and applied.  All the decals were sealed with clear acrylic gloss.
 

 
Unfortunately there were no comparable photos of the machinery on the bow deck.  Here is the best one, taken from overhead.  As you can see, there is a distinct lack of detail.
 

 
Others taken from various angles show even less information, although in this one I could get the height of the foremast.  Each photo, no matter how blurry, could give me a tiny piece of information to add to the totality.
 

 
The only one that had a clear image was taken from a height level with the deck, and although it gave me some idea of the nature of the deck machinery, the locations and sizes were still mostly guesswork.
 

 
Ultimately I fell back on my experience with other working decks and built up in what I believe is a logical sequence.  I started with the fairleads, which I could see and locate from the photos.  Then I put on bollards to take the lines that came in through the fairleads.  Then a pair of capstans were set between the bollards to haul in the lines.  For the anchor machinery a pair of hawse holes were set on either side of the centerline so the anchor chain can run through a pair of chain brakes and then over the heads of a pair of large winches.  The ship’s bell can actually be seen in some of the photos, so it was turned from a dowel, painted brass and installed on a painted brass rod.
 

 
The fore mast as seen in the photos has a running light at the top on a small platform, a cross arm with floodlights at either end, and a ladder running to the top.  It was constructed from brass tube and rod, with plastic details and a photoetched ladder.
 

 
After painting it was set in place flanked by two round topped ventilators. (Yes, I realized later that it was put in backwards. It was turned around before being permanently installed.  Just put it down to another senior moment.)
 

 
The details of the stern raised deck are equally conjectural.  Here is one of the best images that I could locate of the area.  About all that can be said is that there is a mast, painted white with a black top, that comes out of a slightly curved sun shade over most of the deck.
 

 
The second image is a little clearer and some bollards can be seen as well as a cowl ventilator and an ensign staff.
 

 
Accordingly, I installed a railing around the perimeter of the deck and some 12 stanchions bade of brass rod that will hold up the sun shade.
 

 
And here is the final deck layout.  The fairleads and bollards are cast fittings from Bluejacket, as is the cowl ventilator.  The sun shade is built up of a styrene sheet with a layer of parchment colored paper on top meant to simulate the canvas cover of the original.  It has not been permanently attached to the stanchions as yet until the mast and its guy wires are installed.  Since the deck under the sun shade could not be seen, two simple storage boxes were created and set in place.
 

 
In the next segment the containers will be permanently installed on their various support structures.
 
Until then, be well.
 
Dan

Hello again to all.  My thoughts and best wishes to all who have been affected by hurricane Ian.  Listening to the news reports surely puts our activities in perspective.
 
The next portions of the model to detail were the hull areas and raised decks at the bow and stern.   The exterior of the bow was well visualized in several photographs.  In the one below note the hawse pipe for the anchor, the openings in the bulwarks for the fairleads, and the graphics of the ship’s name and company logo. 
 

 
On the model the hawse pipe was located and a cast hawse lip was attached.  The center of the pipe will be drilled open at a later time for the anchor.  The openings in the bulwarks were drilled open with a smaller bitt, then filed to final size and location with needle files.  The ship name is a homemade decal, blue printed on white film.  After attaching the white edges were painted to blend in with the hull color.  The logo at the bow is also homemade.  The red diamond is printed on white film which was carefully cut to form the white edging.  The triple lines are also decal film individually cut to shape and applied.  All the decals were sealed with clear acrylic gloss.
 

 
Unfortunately there were no comparable photos of the machinery on the bow deck.  Here is the best one, taken from overhead.  As you can see, there is a distinct lack of detail.
 

 
Others taken from various angles show even less information, although in this one I could get the height of the foremast.  Each photo, no matter how blurry, could give me a tiny piece of information to add to the totality.
 

 
The only one that had a clear image was taken from a height level with the deck, and although it gave me some idea of the nature of the deck machinery, the locations and sizes were still mostly guesswork.
 

 
Ultimately I fell back on my experience with other working decks and built up in what I believe is a logical sequence.  I started with the fairleads, which I could see and locate from the photos.  Then I put on bollards to take the lines that came in through the fairleads.  Then a pair of capstans were set between the bollards to haul in the lines.  For the anchor machinery a pair of hawse holes were set on either side of the centerline so the anchor chain can run through a pair of chain brakes and then over the heads of a pair of large winches.  The ship’s bell can actually be seen in some of the photos, so it was turned from a dowel, painted brass and installed on a painted brass rod.
 

 
The fore mast as seen in the photos has a running light at the top on a small platform, a cross arm with floodlights at either end, and a ladder running to the top.  It was constructed from brass tube and rod, with plastic details and a photoetched ladder.
 

 
After painting it was set in place flanked by two round topped ventilators. (Yes, I realized later that it was put in backwards. It was turned around before being permanently installed.  Just put it down to another senior moment.)
 

 
The details of the stern raised deck are equally conjectural.  Here is one of the best images that I could locate of the area.  About all that can be said is that there is a mast, painted white with a black top, that comes out of a slightly curved sun shade over most of the deck.
 

 
The second image is a little clearer and some bollards can be seen as well as a cowl ventilator and an ensign staff.
 

 
Accordingly, I installed a railing around the perimeter of the deck and some 12 stanchions bade of brass rod that will hold up the sun shade.
 

 
And here is the final deck layout.  The fairleads and bollards are cast fittings from Bluejacket, as is the cowl ventilator.  The sun shade is built up of a styrene sheet with a layer of parchment colored paper on top meant to simulate the canvas cover of the original.  It has not been permanently attached to the stanchions as yet until the mast and its guy wires are installed.  Since the deck under the sun shade could not be seen, two simple storage boxes were created and set in place.
 

 
In the next segment the containers will be permanently installed on their various support structures.
 
Until then, be well.
 
Dan

Hello again to all.  My thoughts and best wishes to all who have been affected by hurricane Ian.  Listening to the news reports surely puts our activities in perspective.
 
The next portions of the model to detail were the hull areas and raised decks at the bow and stern.   The exterior of the bow was well visualized in several photographs.  In the one below note the hawse pipe for the anchor, the openings in the bulwarks for the fairleads, and the graphics of the ship’s name and company logo. 
 

 
On the model the hawse pipe was located and a cast hawse lip was attached.  The center of the pipe will be drilled open at a later time for the anchor.  The openings in the bulwarks were drilled open with a smaller bitt, then filed to final size and location with needle files.  The ship name is a homemade decal, blue printed on white film.  After attaching the white edges were painted to blend in with the hull color.  The logo at the bow is also homemade.  The red diamond is printed on white film which was carefully cut to form the white edging.  The triple lines are also decal film individually cut to shape and applied.  All the decals were sealed with clear acrylic gloss.
 

 
Unfortunately there were no comparable photos of the machinery on the bow deck.  Here is the best one, taken from overhead.  As you can see, there is a distinct lack of detail.
 

 
Others taken from various angles show even less information, although in this one I could get the height of the foremast.  Each photo, no matter how blurry, could give me a tiny piece of information to add to the totality.
 

 
The only one that had a clear image was taken from a height level with the deck, and although it gave me some idea of the nature of the deck machinery, the locations and sizes were still mostly guesswork.
 

 
Ultimately I fell back on my experience with other working decks and built up in what I believe is a logical sequence.  I started with the fairleads, which I could see and locate from the photos.  Then I put on bollards to take the lines that came in through the fairleads.  Then a pair of capstans were set between the bollards to haul in the lines.  For the anchor machinery a pair of hawse holes were set on either side of the centerline so the anchor chain can run through a pair of chain brakes and then over the heads of a pair of large winches.  The ship’s bell can actually be seen in some of the photos, so it was turned from a dowel, painted brass and installed on a painted brass rod.
 

 
The fore mast as seen in the photos has a running light at the top on a small platform, a cross arm with floodlights at either end, and a ladder running to the top.  It was constructed from brass tube and rod, with plastic details and a photoetched ladder.
 

 
After painting it was set in place flanked by two round topped ventilators. (Yes, I realized later that it was put in backwards. It was turned around before being permanently installed.  Just put it down to another senior moment.)
 

 
The details of the stern raised deck are equally conjectural.  Here is one of the best images that I could locate of the area.  About all that can be said is that there is a mast, painted white with a black top, that comes out of a slightly curved sun shade over most of the deck.
 

 
The second image is a little clearer and some bollards can be seen as well as a cowl ventilator and an ensign staff.
 

 
Accordingly, I installed a railing around the perimeter of the deck and some 12 stanchions bade of brass rod that will hold up the sun shade.
 

 
And here is the final deck layout.  The fairleads and bollards are cast fittings from Bluejacket, as is the cowl ventilator.  The sun shade is built up of a styrene sheet with a layer of parchment colored paper on top meant to simulate the canvas cover of the original.  It has not been permanently attached to the stanchions as yet until the mast and its guy wires are installed.  Since the deck under the sun shade could not be seen, two simple storage boxes were created and set in place.
 

 
In the next segment the containers will be permanently installed on their various support structures.
 
Until then, be well.
 
Dan

Hello again to all –
 
Thanks for the comments and likes, as always.   
 
It has not been that long since the last segment, but since this is a retrospective of the build I can get another one out quickly, as long as I have time left over after the honey-do list.  This one is a bit wordy, with only a few photos since I concentrated on building and not taking photos of my progress.  I hope that the explanations will be sufficient.
 
In the second segment, posted a while ago, the superstructure was in the middle of construction based on the available photographs.  To remind you, here is a close-up of the best photo of the superstructure and a ‘plan view’ taken by a US Air Force plane from almost directly overhead.
 


 
At that time all of the decks and deck houses had been built and the doors, handrails, ladders, and railings for the lower decks had been installed.  The structures of the top two decks and the bridge had been built up but not detailed.   Next the funnel was built.  It started with a ¾” birch dowel that was carved down to an oval cross section.
 

 
The dowel was wrapped in 0.02” styrene attached with gel cyano.   The seam was not positioned along the aft centerline but was offset to one side.  I find that even after filling, sanding, priming and painting there can be a slight imperfection in the surface.  I think that it is less noticeable if it is not centered, which is where most people look.  A reinforcing collar was made for the bottom of the stack from 0.015” strip, painted black.  At the top the photos seem to show that there is a narrow lip enclosing a large round exhaust fitting and a much smaller pipe, probably for excess steam.  A homemade decal of the SeaLand logo was created in my printer and applied to both sides of the funnel.  Actually, this decal ultimately looked too small so you will see a larger one in future photos.
 
Directly ahead of the funnel is a large, square fitting.  I could never be sure of its shape or function, but in one of the fuzzier photos there is a hint that it might be a raised hatch with open doors on either side.  The interior can’t be seen at all, but could contain filters for an air intake.  I modeled it that way but I ask anyone who has a better idea to let me know.  I believe that the six capped square tubes that stand alongside the funnel are the exhausts for the ventilation system.  Their relative heights were taken by comparison with doors and railings in the photos.  They were made slightly overlong, then trimmed to a height that ‘looked right’. 
 
The lifeboat davits were Frankensteined from two cast pewter fittings from Bluejacket.  The top arm of a 7/8” davit could be ground to a thinner profile that closely matched the photos.  But the slides were not long enough since the deck had been widened and the lifeboat had to travel further to reach the edge.  I cut off the foot of one fitting but cut the second fitting higher up the slide.  Mating these two gave me the length that I needed.  They were secured with a bit of brass wire across the joint then filled and glued together with an epoxy product called ‘JB Weld’ that has metal particles in it.  I find that it gives one of the strongest bonds across small metal mating surfaces. 
 

 
The detailing of the upper deck and bridge continued with the large radar mast.  It was built up from a length of 1/8” brass tubing with a 0.032” brass rod crossarm for the signal flags.  A PE ladder leads up to a round lookout platform with a bit of PE railing curled around a dowel to fit.  A radar dish was fashioned from several PE fittings.  Although it looks good and matches some photos of the ship, further examination of the photos taken during the incident showed that the radar at that time was a solid bar.  This radar was removed and a more correct one was built and will appear in later photos.  Four guy wires made of fly tying thread were installed later.
 
Two small exhaust stacks were fitted to the forward corners of the bridge house.  They were cut and carved with slots opened down their lower ends to fit over the forward bridge solid railings.  Small sections of plastic tubes were heat bent then trimmed and painted black as exhaust pipes. 
Final details include a smaller simple mast seen in the photos but whose function I don’t know.  A radio loop was bent up from brass rod and installed as well.  PE railings were fitted around all the deck and bridge wing edges and nameboards were printed with a type face that matched those seen in the photos.  To get a sense of the sizes involved, the nameboard is just over 1/16" tall.
 

 
The lifeboat davits were made more accurate by sawing grooves in the integral sheaves where the lifting lines will run, then the channels in the slides were filed open and square.  The davits were painted white with the sheaves and slide channels painted black.  A Bluejacket casting of an open lifeboat was filed smooth and painted.  After the lifeboat was installed over a square section support the lifting lines with PE blocks and tackles were run.  A final line runs at the top from davit to davit for support.  A final detail of coiled hanks of rope hung from this line will be installed later.
 

 
And here is the superstructure with all the final details added, such as the running lights, the guy wires, and the signal flag hoists with an American flag flying.
 

 
In the next segment the bow and stern decks will be detailed.
 
Till then, stay safe and well.
 
Dan

The head grating battens are complete for now.  I added them all between the knees and the hull.  These were just 3/64" x 3/64" strips.  They were painted black ahead of time and cut to length.  Then glued into position with the slots.   I sanded them gently with 600 grit sandpaper and touched up the paint.  Next will be the forward pair seats.  Once these are done I can add the false rail and the two remaining seats of ease.  Its hard to photograph all these pieces painted black but I am trying my best.
 

Jolly-Boat continued 2
 
Just a short update to show that the planking as such is finished. I am not 100% satisfied with my work. The plank widths could/should have been more equal, but I somehow struggled with the shape of this boat more than with the others. Also, it was easier to glue the planks to the solid core than just to the framework and the edge of the plank underneath.

Jolly-boat starboard side – overall length is 36 mm
 
After the planks were on, a doubling  for the keel and stem was attached to both side, kind of faking a landing of the planks in a rabbet.
 
Jolly-boat port side
 
There are several little gaps and other imperfections that need to be touched up with a bit of putty, but I will do this only after having separated (hopefully) the boat from the former. The putty is quite brittle and my fall out during the procedure.

Looking down onto the planking
 
Once the boat has been released and the frames trimmed back, the wash-strake can be sanded to its final width and shape. Some additional (cant)frames will have to go in before the further fitting out can begin.
 
To be continued ....

For the head gratings, you have to be methodical.   I started by lightly sanding the initial for pieces and painting them black.  These are 1/16" thick.  Each of these pieces is laser cut slightly longer than you will need because everyone's model will vary a bit.
 

The first two pieces are the two cross beams with a camber or roundup on them.  These are the two that run port and starboard.
 
Sand them to length a little at a time taking equal amounts off both sides until they fit snug in the notches of the main headrail.  Dont make it so tight that it spreads your rails apart.  Make it fit just right.  
 
Then the two pieces that run fore and aft can be added next.  I recommend a dry fit of these four pieces before you glue them in permanently.  Make sure you have the notches facing the correct way.  Study these photos.   Because next we will be adding the smaller gratings pieces.
 
When you have these last two pieces in dry-fit only.  Examine them to see if they are running straight with the center line of the hull and that they are both centered.  Dont worry about the dust...you will be screwing up the paint job.   Once you glue them in permanently you can give the top a light sanding with 600 grit sandpaper.  Then touch up the paint.  But dont worry about it being perfect yet because you will be sanding and painting more with each step.

Next up are the smaller 3/64" thick battens which are also laser cut for you.  These are laser cut really long because you have to cut them to fit your model exactly.  I painted them black first. They have a slight curve as you can see.
 

I inserted one end into a notch in the head gratings and then marked the length I needed as it spanned across to the other side.  You will only be added the first six on each side at this point.  Those last two wont be added until after we put the seats in position later.  Carefully measure and cut all six grating battens and dry fit them first.  Then glue them in with yellow glue or tite-bond.   Brush away any excess glue to keep it neat.   Once dry you can lightly sand the joints and paint.  It should look like this at this current stage.
 

Then go back to the 1/16" sheet and remove the two knees with all the notches in them.   And also remove the long curved pieces with notches.   These can be painted black ahead of time as well.  Yes, even the bottom side.  The knees will be put in position first.  The longer leg of the knee sits along the main headrail.   You will no-doubt have to adjust the angle of the knee so it fits your model properly.  Both legs should sit firmly against the inside of the main rail and also the cross piece of the head.  
 
Note how it sits against the inside edge of the main rail.  Do you see how it slopes down rather than sit flush with the top of the main rail.  THIS is very important.  You see, there is the other curved piece with notches that will sit against the hull.  Those notches will have more battens running from them to its corresponding notch in the knee.   You want the platform created by these battens to have a nice flow into the hull.   You dont want them slopped up or down.   
 
Remember this when you place the curved piece against the hull.  As designed, I intended for this piece to fit directly under the fancy molding as shown in the photos.  Does this make sense?  Its real important but may vary on your model.  You may have to place it lower...every model will vary slightly.  
 
In that same photo you can see that I started added the battens between it and the knee.   I did the first two.  The inner two lengths.  I added these first because I wanted to show you guys that these two battens will/should run parallel to the center line.  This is yet another important piece of the puzzle and when you add the notched curved section along the hull be conscious of this.  You want that first notch to line up directly across from the one on the knee so those first two battens are straight with the center line.  Makes sense???  Plan the placement of those curved and notched pieces against the hull carefully.  
 
One end of this curved and notched piece is longer than the other.  I did this purposely so you would know which side should be the aft end closest to the catheads.   The longer end is towards the cathead.  
 
Tomorrow I will continue adding the remaining battens.  Then its onto the seats of ease.  Speaking of seats of ease.....until tomorrow then.
 
You should ask questions if you have them when doing this part.  There are lots of little details to remember about the placement of these pieces.  Read through the instructions a few times.

 
 

@Wishmaster
Thank you vor the kind words. And to all the others, thanks for the LIKES,
 
The days are getting shorter again, so the times spent in the basement shipyard are getting a bit longer again ... 😁
 
Continuation: Standing rigging for jib and outer jib boom - Bâton de foc et bâton de clinfoc
This is a continuation of my last construction report.
To finish the rigging work for the standing rigging of the bowsprit with the jib boom and outer jib boom, the jib boom and flying jib boom stays still had to be fastened. The jib boom was stabilized laterally with two jib guys on each side, one of which was fixed by means of a tackle.
 

Source: Monograph La Creole by J. Boudriot p. 129
 
For the detail of the tackle I followed the model of L'Inflexible and the Atlas du Génie maritime.
 

Source: Extract from Atlas du Génie maritime, annexe No. 1, Pl. 10
 
Attached are two pictures of the implementation and the completed tackles, consisting of double blocks. The ends of the jib guys are then fastened by means of thimbles and seizings.


See you soon ...
 

Rainy Sunday morning, wife and dogs all asleep, kids and loaner kid playing board games, perfect time for an update.
 
Jason I have no idea whats going to happen with the cap rails.  My hope is once its planked on the inside it'll be fat enough to just glue, but maybe I'll pin it as well.  Future Cisco's problem.
 
Sam/SRC I completely agree.  For me point of this hobby is to do as much as I can myself with hand tools.  But i have to admit its fun seeing what other people are doing with computer aided technology even if I don't want to.  The printed cannons have looked pretty interesting...
 
So on to my AVS.  This week is a more detailed description of making the port side waterway.  In theory it should have gone smoother after practicing on the starboard side.  In theory.  Here goes:
 
First, after making the straight section of the waterway and forming the first hook scarf, I created a card model of the front section from a cut up yellow folder.  Miraculously I managed to keep the scarf orientation the mirror image of the port side.  After some adjustments to the scarfs I traced the card onto my 1/8" thick holly stock.

The I cut the traced portion out with a hand jigsaw.  Sorry this pic is a little blurry.  The camera didn't know what to focus on.

Then smoothing out the curve to the penciled line with a spokeshave.

After fitting the new part I traced the first scarf and chiseled the majority of the waste (holly is very crumbly so you can get away with a lot) then used files as before to sneak up onto the lines.

Once I had a reasonable fit I did the same for the final bow waterway piece.

After sanding all the pieces I ended up with the following.  I left the pieces a little fat for final fitting.

The picture makes the scarf joints look tight but holding them up to the light there were definite gaps.  You file one side to tighten the fit and it makes the opposite side open up some so it was a definite Walk Away situation before you oversanded. 
Next I made the gap filler- holly dust mixed with pencil graphite; then mixed with white glue.

And here is the waterway after glue-up.  The gap filler beads over the joint and has to be gently chiseled and not sanded; otherwise the graphite stains the holly grey.

After some chiseling I got to the below stage:

I then traced both edges of the miter with my compass and cut to the lines using my spokeshaves and some sandpaper wrapped around a dowel for the very curvey areas, then glued the waterway in place same as last post. 
I want to keep the holly as white as possible so I used water based polyurethane as a finish.  This area seemed like it would be hard to get into the corners in the future without creating glops of finish so I took care of that now.  I found a qtip with a piece of cut off t-shirt rubber banded on worked great as a applicator (I hate cleaning brushes) and I used another piece of clean t-shirt to wipe it down right afterwards; my version of wipe on poly. 

Seemed to work great.  I have soft white LEDs above my bench which makes the holly look yellower than it would in daylight.
 
And thats it for this week.  I haven't printed out the next chapter of the practicum yet but I think its second planking.
 
Stay dry
 
Cisco

Nils - 
 
Excellent work.  You have earned a well-deserved vacation.
 
Dan

Nils - 
 
Excellent work.  You have earned a well-deserved vacation.
 
Dan

Nils - 
 
Excellent work.  You have earned a well-deserved vacation.
 
Dan

Nils - 
 
Excellent work.  You have earned a well-deserved vacation.
 
Dan

update
 
the rigging is done, the sails all set. I now need to clean up the rope ends in coils and do the fitting out.
The finishing line is already in sight. My wife and I shall have a weeks vacation at the Baltic sea from 4th Oct. on
 
Nils

the standing and running rigging is all in Polyester rope in different sizes
 

 
 

the cabin upper part is removeable, the anchor chain is made from chemically blackened brass
 

 
 

all the blocks are from Master Korabel
 

 
 
 
 

Greetings to all or should I say "Gratings!"? Yes, today we will be scratch-making gratings!
 
Honestly, it is far easier (and less bloody) to get them from Chuck. But I had an itchiness to try and either way, I don't think there are gratings at 1:10 scale.
 
Now, I did make gradings for the Deben but there I cut corners. They came out alright but were not done properly. I ve been scratching my head for the last 2-3 days and tried a few things that did not work. Sadly, a search on MSW was not too helpful.
 
The problem is the scale. If the size of the squares equals that of the table saw blade, things are easy. But in 1:10 scale, my squares are 5 mm and the tine Proxon blade 1 mm thick.
 
So here it goes:
 
I have the small Proxon table saw, it is very underpowered but actually quite accurate and easy to use. I first added a sheet on top of the table saw so that I could clamp something to act as a fence. Then, I  cut several 5 mm strips from a pear sheet, I think it is 3 mm thick.

Then, I glued the strips on another piece of pear sheet.

Then, I drilled, inserted treenails dipped in PVA glue, allowed a few minutes to dry (in the meantime worked on a second piece), then lightly sanded and cut a strip across.






I actually forgot to take pictures but the strips produced look like this

After I made very many, I managed to cut my finger, thankfully not deep at all.
 
Then, I started to assemble the gratings. I had to trim every single square with a sharp chisel, by afternoon the dining room was full of tiny wood chippings but the gratings came out quite acceptable I think. They still miss a few tree nails and need sanding, gluing and trimming but I am happy. Apologies for the terrible photo, I ll take a better one for the next post.

Of course they are far from perfect, the tree nails are in the wrong positions, the squares are not perfect or symmetrical, the grain runs parallel in all pieces instead of crossing 90 degrees (not an issue with pear) but I can live with these.
 
So I have 3 pieces, one will go on the small deck at the bow, one to the floor aft and the third one I have not figured out yet where I ll use it.
 
Best wishes
Vaddoc

Hull is completed, so I started produktion of masts.

Hi JKC - 
 
I find that the GMM railings are quite sturdy, although they will kink if mistreated.  If a bar is bent it is easily nudged back into shape and stays straight.  I also have some from Tom's Modelworks and agree that they are fragile.  But they are useful when I need light railings.  I have used Tom's sets of deck chairs and benches for the Titanic and they are great - highly detailed and in scale.  
I use smooth, flat jawed pliers to do all the bending of PE details.  Folding is done against flat wooden blocks.  Never with my fingers except for long, smooth curves.  I think that I detailed my techniques in the build log of the SS Andrea Doria. 
 
Best of success with your projects.  Post your build log here so I can follow your progress.
 
Be well
 
Dan

Hi again to all –
 
Thanks as always for the likes and comments.  I hope everyone has had a good summer and we are getting back to the workbench and computer, as I am. 
 
Thanks also to all who asked about my health problems.  They are all getting better, slowly, and in any event were small compared to some of those suffered by other friends in the MSW family.  My best wishes for speedy and complete recoveries to all.
 
When I left off last segment the 96 containers had all been built and detailed and set on deck.  But they have to be supported on leveling trestles and supports that raise them to a height where the cranes can move them around.  As before, there are no plans of these structures, so I had to rely on somewhat fuzzy photos.  The interpretations of these were some of the most difficult of the build, and I spent any number of hours staring at the images, changing lighting and contrast, till I had a pretty good idea of how they worked.  Here are some of the better images with arrows pointing to the several elements:
 

 

 

 
After all this studying, and keeping in mind what I was capable of building, I came up with this rough cross-section sketch of the various components and how they would sit on or attach to each other:
 

 
The first element to build was the support trestle.  To get the right taper and curve to the vertical piece of the I-beam I clipped pieces of card stock to small wood blocks and set them on the fore and aft decks.  With careful measuring and trimming I matched the lower edge to the deck curve.  Then using a small line level I laid out and marked the top edge so it was horizontal and parallel with the waterline.  The final task was to adjust that horizontal line to a level where the final height of the containers would match the look seen in the photos.  Since the container supports had not been built, nor the final structure of the container blocks, this was a bit of an informed guess, but I think it came out OK in the end.
 

 
With the shape of the vertical piece determined I cut out the tapered piece from 0.03” (.75mm for the metrically minded) styrene.  The same plastic gave me a wide bottom piece and a narrower top piece for the trestle I-beam.
 

 
The tapered piece was laid on a wood sheet of a thickness that supported it at half the height of the lower piece.  Using small pieces of wood to hold the plastic pieces against each other they were glued along the joint with thin plastic cement, which essentially softens and welds the pieces to each other.  Note that where possible the pieces are cut oversize to be trimmed after gluing.
 

 
Locations for the trestle web pieces were marked out along the length of the trestle at 3/16” (3 foot in scale) intervals.  This may be a bit wide, but it does match the look from the photos.  The web pieces were also cut long and extended past the top edge of the vertical piece.  Once they were all glued on solidly the tops were cut to match the edge of the piece.  Doing it in this sequence meant that I never had to cut and fit the pieces individually to their different lengths.
 

 
After trimming the web pieces the narrower top piece was glued on using small wood blocks as before.
 

 
Now the outer edges of the web pieces could be cut to the taper to match the wider lower piece and the narrower top piece.  This is the final look of the leveling trestles, which matches the cross-section sketch pretty closely.
 

 
The crane guide rails were attached to the tops of the leveling trestles and they were set on deck to check their appearance.
 

 
Plastic I-beams of various heights were attached to the trestles so the port and starboard ones would be parallel with each other.  The beams had to be cut to a length that would allow for the thicknesses of the future container supports and the sizes of the containers themselves inside the crane guide rails.  A lot of trial and error went into this, and a fair amount of cursing, because the tolerances were so small.  However finally a satisfactory dimension was achieved and the I-beams were all cut to this length.  After gluing, the trestle assembly was painted dark bronze.  I don’t have any references for this choice, but it does set them off from the deck and the containers, and the color is not unknown as a rust resistant coating. 
A final check with the line level confirmed that everything was up to spec, which was followed by a big sigh and a bigger glass of bourbon.
 

 
The forward trestles were built in the same manner.  Note that there is no beam across the forward end of the forward trestles.  The photos show that this area is open, so that is how it was built.  The two sets were temporarily laid on deck to see if anything looked wrong or out of scale.  Fortunately, I was happy with the results so the pieces were removed and set aside for later use.
 

 
While this was going on, the final detailing of the superstructure, as well as the bow and stern decks, was also proceeding.  These will be covered in the next installment.
 
Until then, stay safe and well.
 
Dan

Hello again to all –
 
Thanks for the comments and likes, as always.   
 
It has not been that long since the last segment, but since this is a retrospective of the build I can get another one out quickly, as long as I have time left over after the honey-do list.  This one is a bit wordy, with only a few photos since I concentrated on building and not taking photos of my progress.  I hope that the explanations will be sufficient.
 
In the second segment, posted a while ago, the superstructure was in the middle of construction based on the available photographs.  To remind you, here is a close-up of the best photo of the superstructure and a ‘plan view’ taken by a US Air Force plane from almost directly overhead.
 


 
At that time all of the decks and deck houses had been built and the doors, handrails, ladders, and railings for the lower decks had been installed.  The structures of the top two decks and the bridge had been built up but not detailed.   Next the funnel was built.  It started with a ¾” birch dowel that was carved down to an oval cross section.
 

 
The dowel was wrapped in 0.02” styrene attached with gel cyano.   The seam was not positioned along the aft centerline but was offset to one side.  I find that even after filling, sanding, priming and painting there can be a slight imperfection in the surface.  I think that it is less noticeable if it is not centered, which is where most people look.  A reinforcing collar was made for the bottom of the stack from 0.015” strip, painted black.  At the top the photos seem to show that there is a narrow lip enclosing a large round exhaust fitting and a much smaller pipe, probably for excess steam.  A homemade decal of the SeaLand logo was created in my printer and applied to both sides of the funnel.  Actually, this decal ultimately looked too small so you will see a larger one in future photos.
 
Directly ahead of the funnel is a large, square fitting.  I could never be sure of its shape or function, but in one of the fuzzier photos there is a hint that it might be a raised hatch with open doors on either side.  The interior can’t be seen at all, but could contain filters for an air intake.  I modeled it that way but I ask anyone who has a better idea to let me know.  I believe that the six capped square tubes that stand alongside the funnel are the exhausts for the ventilation system.  Their relative heights were taken by comparison with doors and railings in the photos.  They were made slightly overlong, then trimmed to a height that ‘looked right’. 
 
The lifeboat davits were Frankensteined from two cast pewter fittings from Bluejacket.  The top arm of a 7/8” davit could be ground to a thinner profile that closely matched the photos.  But the slides were not long enough since the deck had been widened and the lifeboat had to travel further to reach the edge.  I cut off the foot of one fitting but cut the second fitting higher up the slide.  Mating these two gave me the length that I needed.  They were secured with a bit of brass wire across the joint then filled and glued together with an epoxy product called ‘JB Weld’ that has metal particles in it.  I find that it gives one of the strongest bonds across small metal mating surfaces. 
 

 
The detailing of the upper deck and bridge continued with the large radar mast.  It was built up from a length of 1/8” brass tubing with a 0.032” brass rod crossarm for the signal flags.  A PE ladder leads up to a round lookout platform with a bit of PE railing curled around a dowel to fit.  A radar dish was fashioned from several PE fittings.  Although it looks good and matches some photos of the ship, further examination of the photos taken during the incident showed that the radar at that time was a solid bar.  This radar was removed and a more correct one was built and will appear in later photos.  Four guy wires made of fly tying thread were installed later.
 
Two small exhaust stacks were fitted to the forward corners of the bridge house.  They were cut and carved with slots opened down their lower ends to fit over the forward bridge solid railings.  Small sections of plastic tubes were heat bent then trimmed and painted black as exhaust pipes. 
Final details include a smaller simple mast seen in the photos but whose function I don’t know.  A radio loop was bent up from brass rod and installed as well.  PE railings were fitted around all the deck and bridge wing edges and nameboards were printed with a type face that matched those seen in the photos.  To get a sense of the sizes involved, the nameboard is just over 1/16" tall.
 

 
The lifeboat davits were made more accurate by sawing grooves in the integral sheaves where the lifting lines will run, then the channels in the slides were filed open and square.  The davits were painted white with the sheaves and slide channels painted black.  A Bluejacket casting of an open lifeboat was filed smooth and painted.  After the lifeboat was installed over a square section support the lifting lines with PE blocks and tackles were run.  A final line runs at the top from davit to davit for support.  A final detail of coiled hanks of rope hung from this line will be installed later.
 

 
And here is the superstructure with all the final details added, such as the running lights, the guy wires, and the signal flag hoists with an American flag flying.
 

 
In the next segment the bow and stern decks will be detailed.
 
Till then, stay safe and well.
 
Dan

Terrific work, Keith - 
 
As one who has struggled with making and hanging sails, I am truly astounded with how well yours came out.
No need for a third hand when your two do such great work.
 
Dan 

Update
 
I have started with the sails. The flyer and the mainsail are intended to be red, the other 3 (already sewn sails) are brown.
The red sail cloth is too thin and wrinkels under the sewing machine foot, so I`m giving it a second try with either diluted PVA or with laundry starch in the appropriate places
The FZ 53 identification # on the red main sail was printed by my local copy shop, in the same quality as the 5 Elbe sail # recently.
Allthough I had sewn many sails this way to date, I had a problem in getting the 1 mm thick bolt rope to alline properly under the zick zag stich this time. Thankfully my wife gave me a good suggestion how to fix that, and it works well. The foot devices for the machine are of great help and I could`nt do without them.
 
Nils

brown foresail, mizzen sail a top sail
 

red, flyer and main sail
 

these are the two needle guide and foot devices I am using
 
 

Well, it's official: I am Covid positive! I am actually quite well apart from some odd symptoms and fatigue and there is a good aspect to it: I ll be able to work on the boat for the next few days.
 
So today some more progress.
I first made a rough template for a deck to sit bellow the breast hook. I d like this deck to have grating but I do not have a mill so I must figure an easy way to do it with the tools I have.



Next, I started cutting the floor timbers and sanding them to height (16mm so that the floor to top of thwarts will be 45 cm in full scale). Unexpectedly tricky, I made two and wasted some expensive pear wood.

These are 16 mm high or 16 cm in the real boat. Kind of look a bit high and going a bit wide and high up the sides. I could lower to 11 cm but then as discussed above, the thwarts will sit 50 cm above the floors - a bit too much.
I ll cut a few more timbers and see how they look. 
 
Regards
Vaddoc

Thank you all for your continuing interest and kind words.
 
I did a bit of a work assessment this week and decided that i should comfortably get this project completed by Christmas, at least that is the target.
 
I am still working on the mainsail.
I made the boom fixing for the tipping lift on a template - to get both sides identical.

 
I then released I had missed off the forward hoop for the topping lift attachment point. A bit annoying as it was more difficult to install with the boom mounted. The strap was made form thin brass sheet and then then bent into a ring.


Before rigging the topping lift I needed to temporarily secure the boom in position with a length of string.
 

With this done I attached the "triangular" wire and rigged the topping lift.
 


The topping lifts are fed throughout 2 blocks that attach just below the cross tree.

The next job was to attach the reefing lines. The leach reefing line attaches at the boom, then goes up to the reefing cringle before descending back to a pulley on the boom. From here it is led forward to the mast. At the mast it feeds through a bobbin before being tied off to a belaying pin. The next photo shows the reefing line passing through the bobbin.

I turned the bobbins from black plastic and added the attachment lashings.
 


The bobbins were then lashed to eyes on the mast.

I didn't have any photos of the luff reefing line so I had to improvise. I rigged the line both sides, through bobbins and on to the cleats on the forward end of the boom.
 

With this done I then moved to rigging the boom sheet. The sheet runs between the two largest winches on the boat taking a wondering path through numerous deck and boom mounted blocks, all very complicated.
 


I have only roughly tensioned the sheet in the above photos. Iwill need to do final adjustments when i rig the boat on a port tack.
 
And finally an overall shot.

I now need to do a bit of measuring up for the topsail.