cog

Happy New Year, Vaddoc
 
That’s a very nice piece of engineering you’ve done. The video shows it off nicely. 
 
How come the ‘star of the show ‘ didn’t appear on the vid?  He wouldn’t be camera shy, would he???😏😏. 
 
Enjoy the New Year festivities. 
 
Cheers. 
 
Patrick
 

Finally, a proper update!
I was able to spent some time in the garage, I heated up the place and did a bit of work. 
 
First the pattern for the new tabernacle was transferred to 0.7 mm brass.
 

 
I drilled and cut the piece an then filed across the lines and bent the piece to shape. It came out fine but just a bit wide.
 

 

 

 
I think the scale is more appropriate compared to the previous tabernacle
 

 

 

 
 
I actually made a second one, about 1 mm more narrow. I did not file deep enough though so it did not bend as well. I decided to use the first one.
 

 

 
I am not sure how it would work in the real boat, however I am thinking that having the base of the mast supported by just a through bolt might not be a long lasting solution. A metal sheath would transfer forces to the base of the mast much better. So I made one, again from 0.7 mm brass. I silver soldered it but poorly, as the edged did not touch well.
 

 

 
I like this set up but the metal sleeve was not a very good fit. I cut the joint, sanded the edges and silver soldered it again. I had to lightly sand the base of the mast but overall a much better soldering job and a much better fit.
 

I made the axle, 3 mm brass rod secured to a drill and 2 groves filed down to 2 mm. I finished the edges on the disc sander. It fits like a glove!
 

 

 

 

 
Next, I drilled a 3 mm hole through the mast and the metal sleeve. A pilot hole was first drilled and then I used a massive 3 mm tungsten carbide drill. The little Proxxon drill did very well!
 

 

 
I test fitted the whole assembly with the tabernacle screwed on a piece of timber. Everything came together perfectly! And not only that, the tabernacle actually works and the mast very easily comes down! It is also very stable laterally despite the huge leverage from the tall mast.
 

 

 

 

 
I could not resist taking a short video!
 
 
 
Now I need to clean, acid etch, prime and paint everything and then put on the boat. I might also solder a bar on each side of the tabernacle to provide points to attach cleats.
It felt good working on the boat again!
 
Best wishes for a Happy New Year!
 
Vaddoc
 
 
 

One more decoration piece.

Thanks for all the likes, and thanks Druxey and Pat for the encouraging comments. Very much appreciated, particularly with what turned out to be a very frustrating stage of the build.
 
Well, I've finished the xylokastra at last.
 
Parapet planking nearly complete on the first one - with a crewman for comparison.



Planking complete.

I sanded it all smooth, but it looked a little bare, so I added some horizontals nominally to strengthen the structure but really to make it look better. 

Another column came loose, so I "pinned" it.

I ended up doing this to all the corner columns, and even then I had to repeat the procedure with at least one of them because the pin broke. Next time I do this (for the forecastle or pseudopation) I'll do the columns last, because a lot of repair had to be done to damage which occurred while I was working on the superstructure. And I'll carve an integral pin into the end of each column to hold everything together, rather than (a) butt-jointing the tops of the columns and/or (b) drilling holes in the tops of the columns to add the pins.
 
The same problem came up with the corner pieces of the substructure, and in future I'll pin these as well.  As you can see below the corner piece came away along with everything attached to it as I was working on the superstructure, and the whole thing had to be repaired.
 
The first xylokastron complete.
 
The second one under way.

And a comparison with the finished one.

Both xylokastra complete and inhabited, with a crewman, a Varangian guardsman and a flute-player (for giving the rowing pace to the oarsmen). These aren't the guys who will be there - they're to go elsewhere on the ship. In fact I might leave the xylokastra completely uninhabited, as the vessel's not in combat.
 
It's been a long and difficult process, but I've learnt a lot while doing it, which will stand me in good stead later in this and future builds.
 
Steven

Part 14: The after bulkhead
Some carlings have to be placed on the deck beams, therefore I have to make some notches in the beams. I make them using wood chisels.

All the notches are made. The beams are just laying on the model without glue.

Before starting to build the bulkhead that separates the equipment store from the fish hold, I stain the deck beams and place the one which will support the bulkhead definitively.

Left of the middle of the bulkhead is a passageway. I place a provisory shelf with the same dimensions as the passageway.

Building the bulkhead to the left and to the right of the passageway.

Below the hatch of the equipment store there are two steps on the bulwark to descend in the store. I forgot to make pictures of the making of them.
Because I find difficult to use the steps without a handrail I will place handrails although it is not described in the practicum.              
I mill some 3 cm long slots in a piece of 3 mm thick oak.

I saw the plank in the middle, and then to the right width.

I saw the shape of the handrails,

and round off the angled sides with sandpaper.

Gluing the handrails.

Like this it is much easier for my crew to use the steps.

Thanks Carl and Patrick and all those who pushed the 'like button'.
Here is the progress of last week:
 
When I showed the progress on my cross section to my modelers friends, one of them asked me if there would be gratings in the rope- and fender stores. I said him that it was not provided in the practicum. Afterwards I thought about it and I realized that  it would make sense if the ropes and rope fenders were laying on gratings to protect them against mold. And also very important: a grating would hide the mess I made of my deck.
 
I saw 3mm strips out of a 3mm thick mahogany plank.

I glue them together as one surface with a droplet of glue at each side.

In the whole of strips, I saw at 3mm intervals 1.5mm deep and 3 mm wide slits

I disassemble the strip again, using a cutter knife.

I start gluing 3mm x 1.5mm strips in the slits.

The grating, ready to be sawn in different parts and to be sanded.

I suppose that the grating could be brought outside therefore I make the grating for the trawl warp storage in three parts which can pass each through the hatch.
One part in place

Two parts in place.

All three parts in place.

The grating of the rope fender storage, partly cut away.

Hi Nenad
 
That’s nice and nifty!
 
Cheers. 
 
Patrick

Another piece of "learning by doing" - probably the only possible way to construct the bow framing; hard to predict in theory, but the obvious road to travel when doing it in practice.
 
Steven

It seems you can't have both, and sharp edges and a turntable ... looks very good though. Just needs a bit of a distant view

Thanks Pat, much appreciated
 
Added some ammo boxes, broke the top of the for'ard mast, so I've got some renovating to do. Whats left ... well ... working on the rear tripod, some touch up paintwork, the railings, a quad pompom which will arrive January next, rudder, anchors, need to give the hull a mat varnish, and after that the screws ... ah yes ... OC's favorite: rigging ... Still looking for some anchor chains at scale ... very hard to come by
 

Hello Siggi,
a nice model!
I have not decided yet what kind of material I will use.
Here's a first try for the shrouds. In this case, I used a linen rope. I'll do more experiments.

I guess while she was originally designed as an RC vessel. She needed to give a nice view from a distance, without going into tiny (and easy damaging) detail.
Apparently, BB retained this design, even now detailing is easier and cheaper.
 
Jan

Here you can see there’s not much contrast between the hulls and the decks. Hopefully the gray deck fittings and the gray strip on the hull breaks it up a little bit. 

A few days for vacation.... but holiday season in full swing. Not a lot of progress. 😊
Planked, weathered and attached the canoe

 
Worked on the fishing hooks

 
Attempt to make some lures. I may change it. 

Thanks Pat, much appreciated
 
Added some ammo boxes, broke the top of the for'ard mast, so I've got some renovating to do. Whats left ... well ... working on the rear tripod, some touch up paintwork, the railings, a quad pompom which will arrive January next, rudder, anchors, need to give the hull a mat varnish, and after that the screws ... ah yes ... OC's favorite: rigging ... Still looking for some anchor chains at scale ... very hard to come by
 

Hoi Jan,
I remember this from my build as well. You might be able to reduce the problem by scoring from the back, i.e. instead of making a valley fold you make a mountain fold. If the lip or tab is to be folded backwards, as is most often the case, then it is often better to mark the fold position from the front (printed side) of the card by pressing down with the the point of your awl in line with the fold line and then turn the card over and score the section from depression to depression at the back of the card. This will reduce the damage/disturbance of the printed layer.
 
Here are some pictures of a quickly drawn example part with tabs. The last two pictures show the damage done to the card by scoring at the front (penultimate picture) and the back (last picture).
 

I tend to remember it like this. If the part is to be folded BACKwards (away from you), the fold must be done at the BACK.
 
I hope this will help.
 
 

Dunno about the American version of Swiss cheese, but the European is very hard to look through ... 

Thanks Pat, much appreciated
 
Added some ammo boxes, broke the top of the for'ard mast, so I've got some renovating to do. Whats left ... well ... working on the rear tripod, some touch up paintwork, the railings, a quad pompom which will arrive January next, rudder, anchors, need to give the hull a mat varnish, and after that the screws ... ah yes ... OC's favorite: rigging ... Still looking for some anchor chains at scale ... very hard to come by
 

You should take a look a pre-dreadnaught and dreadnaught type warships ... maybe they just were afraid of loosing an anchor ...

It seems you can't have both, and sharp edges and a turntable ... looks very good though. Just needs a bit of a distant view

Thanks Pat, much appreciated
 
Added some ammo boxes, broke the top of the for'ard mast, so I've got some renovating to do. Whats left ... well ... working on the rear tripod, some touch up paintwork, the railings, a quad pompom which will arrive January next, rudder, anchors, need to give the hull a mat varnish, and after that the screws ... ah yes ... OC's favorite: rigging ... Still looking for some anchor chains at scale ... very hard to come by
 

Thanks Pat, much appreciated
 
Added some ammo boxes, broke the top of the for'ard mast, so I've got some renovating to do. Whats left ... well ... working on the rear tripod, some touch up paintwork, the railings, a quad pompom which will arrive January next, rudder, anchors, need to give the hull a mat varnish, and after that the screws ... ah yes ... OC's favorite: rigging ... Still looking for some anchor chains at scale ... very hard to come by
 

Thanks Pat, much appreciated
 
Added some ammo boxes, broke the top of the for'ard mast, so I've got some renovating to do. Whats left ... well ... working on the rear tripod, some touch up paintwork, the railings, a quad pompom which will arrive January next, rudder, anchors, need to give the hull a mat varnish, and after that the screws ... ah yes ... OC's favorite: rigging ... Still looking for some anchor chains at scale ... very hard to come by
 

Next step
 

Dunno about the American version of Swiss cheese, but the European is very hard to look through ...