CPDDET

Did the lettering come with the kit, Pat?

Is anyone using their Byrne's saw for cutting thin brass stock? If so, which blade are you using and what is the maximum thickness you're cutting? Dave

I'll take that compliment, but learning a lot from your techniques. Carry on!

Thanks for the compliment, Pat. Means a lot coming from someone with your skill and uncanny ability to work out processes. Metal working presents new skill set for me to learn. Not to mention the investment of some new tools.

I’ve been working on the smoke stack / vent that mounts on top of the main cabin house. I really wanted this to be copper so again, there was a bit of a learning curve. I started by placing 2 pieces of Blu Tack on a carbon block. Cut a piece of 3/32 brass tube at a 45 degree angle and aligned them for soldering. After soldering I cleaned it up a bit, cut it to proper dimensions and glued a brass washer on the short end where it will meet the cabin top. For the resting block I used a small piece of 1/16 square brass stock and filed a notch for the pipe to rest in. Still have some cleanup to do on this piece. But now that the skylight, vent and compass housing are finished I can finally get everything mounted on the cabin roof.

Thanks Pat, was wondering what the scale was. And thanks for passing along the process. One to keep in mind for sure.

Pat, did you drill the 20 gauge needle in or just press it in? If drilled, any special speed? What is the finished diameter of the nails?

Seems like the "blocky" look is something I'm constantly fighting when working at such a small scale. But you're doing a great job. Carry on Pat.

I've often wondered about poplar. Easy to obtain, a bit harder than white pine but softer than cherry. Question is how does it take to bending. when the times comes I'll have to pick the brains of the scratch builders on this forum. Right now I have my hands full with my Bluenose.

That's the plan. I will experiment with other wood as well besides cedar. Boxwood seems the most desirable, but the scarcity of it troubles me. Lots of research to do before I attempt my first scratch build.

Thanks Patrick, just looking ahead to my next build which will be from scratch. Planning on something small like a dory to perfect my skills before taking on a ship like yours. I appreciate your input. Dave

Great information on these posts. Patrick, could you comment further on how cedar is working in other aspects? I see yellow cedar is readily available.

Looking good Patrick. I like the idea of using the brass bar as a stop. I'm sure that tip will come in handy for me.

Finished building the compass housing, just have some sanding cleanup and painting to do. Really tried to keep things in scale and decided on 1/16 wide by 1/32 thick boards for the top cover. This is equal to 2 inches thick by 4 inches wide. I started by putting two pieces of 1/16 stock together with double stick tape. Copied the shape of the front panel from the plans, cut it out on a scroll saw and sanded the edges of both pieces smooth. After separating the two pieces I drilled the needed hole in the front panel. Using another scrap of 1/16 stock I made a base to join the front and back panels. Then ripped a piece of 1/32 thick stock to make a 1/16 wide plank several inches long. After cutting the plank into 10-12 pieces, which were slightly longer than needed, I glued them in individually to form the cover of the housing. Cutting the planks / boards a bit longer than needed allowed them to slightly overhang both the front and rear panels. Then it was a simple job of sanding them flush. Came out fairly well. When this is done I’ll move on to the vent / smoke stack which I plan to build from brass tubing. Time to gather the needed tools and material for that.

I've often pondered the use of an alternative to basswood. Got to be a better way and you're convincing me.

Wow! Your extra time spent filling and sanding really paid off. Looks very nice and will provide a great canvas for finishing.

Looking good, Pat. Forge ahead!

Nice job! I struggled for the longest time with the skylight. Dave

Historical or not, hull planking is a challenge your doing well with. Congrats on the progress, Pat.

Finally back in the boatyard. Had some emergency medical issues to deal with but back in fine shape now. Also decided to reorganize my work area as things were getting too cluttered. The issues I was having with the skylight are now solved and thought I would go into a bit more detail on how I solved them. The workmanship still isn't what I would like but at this stage of my skill I feel its my best effort. The two problems I was facing was building a strong enough window frame and drilling holes for the bars that would line up from the top frame to the bottom frame so the bars would be straight. I built a jig that would hold 2 pieces of wood stacked on each other. Then, using my Dremel drill press, drilled five 1/64" holes through both pieces. In order to build a stronger window frame I decided to use thicker stock and cut lap joints to give the Titebond something to adhere to. So I made jigs that would limit both my vertical and horizontal cuts. Then carefully cut the 4 sides of each frame. Using pins that would eventually become the bars for alignment, I glued the frames together. After painting the frames I inserted 5 pins in each and trimmed them to fit. For the housing I glued in a piece of craft paper to hide the framing that would show through the skylight. I glued some very thin craft plastic to the back of the frames to serve as windows panes. After gluing the windows to the housing I fashioned the top piece. This took a bit of doing but my new Byrnes disk sander made it much easier, sanding the 40 degree angles to fit. Then stained the piece and glued it in. Now it's on to the compass housing.

You worked it out nicely!

Very nice work!

Might be a good solution. I made my frames a bit thicker, 1/32, and drilled holes for the bars. Still have to assemble this. Will try using straight pins for the bars. They are 1/64 diamiter. Wish they were gold instead of silver. Will also try thinning copper wire with a draw plate for the bars.

As usual, will have to test different methods on scrap material. Since the "glass" will be below the bars I sure don't want it to come loose. Might be impossible to fix.

Still not sure how I will attach it to the painted basswood. I'll test CA but wonder if silicone might work better. Always something.....