coxswain

I finished and mounted the rudder, and applied the bow and stern decorations.  Pictures below.
 
The drawing shows the white rubbing strakes running straight to the figurehead at the bow, and the brass decorations on that same line without the bend you see here.  While the rubbing strakes would "frame" the top decoration, I'm not sure what the bottom of the lower one would look like.  In any event, as I mentioned above, I had missed that in the drawings and terminated the strakes at the end of the hull.  So I extended them and applied the decorations as you see here.
 
Also as noted in my earlier post, the space between the strakes at the stern was not wide enough for the stern decorations, so I had to file them down to fit.  That seems to have worked out OK.
 
Regards,
David

Good Morning
Here is extra work on blocks and on the fore sails ,  they are furled as you see ... However, I do not intend to do the same with the Stay ,Mizzen sails.
thank you 

I started this kit a while ago and have postponed starting a build log for no particular reason. I am a professional procrastinator.
This is a very old kit with minimal parts.  A machine carved hull; some blocks of wood for the deck cabins, some strip wood; and various white metal castings. There are 2 sheets of plans. One for the original tow barge and a second set showing the conversion to steam power.
When I took the contents photo I had already started to lay out some reference lines on the deck.
Some observations:
1. I discovered that the blocks for the deck houses were sized totally different from the plans.  I planned to scratch build these anyway
2. The strip wood were of sizes that were way off scale for their required application.
3. The bow shape did not agree with the plans; hence all the plastic wood.
As in all solid hull kits I've seen, the bulwarks are oversized by design and have to be shaved down to the proper thickness.
The kit included scribed sheetwood for the decking but i decided to lay individual planks with 1/32x1/32 stripwood. Initially I varnished the deck and then later decided to paint it deck grey.
After installing the decking one has to cut a bazillion little notches in the bulwarks.
Most recently I test fit her on a walnut base.
At this stage I installed the rudder.  This was a bit of an issue.  The casting included had no resemblance to the rudder in the plans.  Also, the drawing was too small to really understand what the rudder actually looked like.  Thanks to Google, I found an archeology study of some sunken barges of the same period as the CoP that had a good drawing of a typical rudder.  I scratch built a reasonable copy for my CoP.  I also had to scratch build 2 props as these were not provided in the kit. The result is passable, but they are not very visible anyway.
Next step is to start making the deck houses.
Final note: I am building the CoP at the same time as I am planking my Charles W. Morgan.  I need to do something as the glue dries or the planks soak. LOL
 

I managed to finish the deck planking.
By the time I had got to the final planks on each beam the joggles were much longer than the maximum width of my chisels and I had to revert to the craft knife for cutting purposes. 

At maximum beam the deck edge becomes parallel with the deck planks and joggling becomes unnecessary.
I have done some rough sanding (80 and 120 grit) to clean up the surface. 
I laid the deck on the hull to check what it would look like. Much more work to do before it is attached.
I was pleased with the symmetry - by luck or judgement it was pretty well spot on.
 
 

John / Druxey - thank you - and thank you to others who have visited and or liked.
Tom
 
Here are some more photos which may help.


The next component is a clamp which holds down the plank after it has passed through the sanding drum. I don't use it a lot but it is helpful when sanding thin planks as it stops them lifting.
 

I have had a few good days progressing the deck planking. The following photos show a lot of the narrower planks now in place.
I have been drawing pencil lines across the planks as I go as an aid to checking the joggling is symmetrical, fortunately it is.


My joggling tool consists of 2 offcuts of deck planking each with a caulking strip glued to one edge. They are coloured red to stop them getting lost among the other offcuts.

By using the red planks as a gauge I am able to accurately mark the position of the joggles in preparation for cutting out.
 
I did a bit of sanding to confirm the deck was going to look OK.

I hope to finish the deck planking in the next 2 days.
 
 

Hello Tom - my drum sander lacks sophistication I'm afraid. I use the drum and sanding tubes from an oscillating sander. The sanding table is made from 3/8 inch ply below which is a dust collection box connected to a vacuum port.

Sanding is done between the upstanding wooden plank and the sanding drum. The plank pivots on the pin at the far end and coarse adjustment is made by the screw on the left hand side.

The hole in the table is about 1/4 inch bigger in diameter than the sanding drum which means that I can fine tune the thickness of the sanded components by adjusting the table relative to the drum axis using the Y axis of the mill table. This works very well and allows me to achieve very accurate results.. The table clamps in the jaws of the milling vice and hence is quickly removed and replaced.
 
Peter thank you for visiting, my methods are probably a result of my antiquity.
 
Pat - thank you - pity about the Ashes!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Eberhard - thank you .

I made a start on the deck planking. As previously explained the deck has 2 widths of plank. The wider planks will be .216" x .060" x 12 inch - at full scale this equates to planks 7.75" wide by 36 foot long. The narrower planks will be .125' x .060" x 12 inch - at full scale 4.5" wide by 36 foot long.
 
I did a hunt through the shed to find a light shade of wood to represent a faded teak deck (which I think is what Germania has - see image in previous post). I came up with some old wooden kitchen doors so I thought I would give them a try.
They seem to cut reasonably well, have a close grain and uniform colouration. They do feel unpleasantly fibrous when cut but sand well. The wood is quite soft and easy to cut with hand tools and doesn't seem to splinter. I haven't a clue what the wood might be.
 
Once I had cut the slices from the door I passed them all through my improvised milling machine drum sander. As a result the widths were all within a couple of thou of the target plank widths.
 
Planks of the correct thickness (.060") were then cut from the slices. The margin planks are only .050" thick and the extra .010" of thickness on the deck planks is to give me ample scope for sanding.
 
I am caulking between the planks with .006" thick black card. The card is good quality to avoid fibres impregnating the wood during sanding.
 
I cut the caulking strips from the card on the mill. I use a metal rod in the chuck to act as the backstop for the square and advance the table in .060" increments to produce caulking strips of the correct width.
 

Having completed the margin planks I guessed what the bow and stern finish looked like. Both are under gratings and not visible in any of the photos. I shouldn't worry really as they wont be visible on the finished model. I have completed 8 of the 10 wider planks. As yet I have not needed to start joggling the stern planks.

At the bow end joggling has commenced and so far is turning out pretty uniform.

I am finding that cutting the joggle in the margin plank is made much easier by first drilling with a very fine drill (.020") in the corner of the piece to be removed. I then cut the short butt end with a sharp craft knife and finally cut the long edge with a single press of a vertically held 1 inch wide chisel. This seems to avoid any splintering of the margin plank. I then mark out the deck plank to fit the joggle and cut it with a vertically held chisel. With a bit of care this seems to produce and accurate result.

I have just started the final (9th and 10th) wide planks. The narrower planks should slow my progress somewhat.

Back to the build log:- Mostly pondering rather than building, but still fun.
 
The deck planking on Germania is different to that previously undertaken on Altair. On Altair a number of "wider" deck planks run parallel with the centre line while the remainder of the deck planks (narrower planks) run in a curve parallel to the margin plank. the narrower planks are "joggled" into the wider central planks:-

On Germania 10 off wider central planks follow the centre line. Narrower planks then run parallel with the central planks and are joggled into the margin planks.
 
I want the jogging to be absolutely symmetrical on each side and achieving this requires three things to happen as follows:-
 
-The margin planks must be attached to the sub deck exactly symmetrical about the centre line.
-The central planks must then be attached to the sub deck exactly on the centre line.
-As the deck planks are built up progressively from the centre line to the deck edge the cumulative width must identical on both sides to maintain the symmetry about the centre line. Accurately sizing the plank widths is essential to achieve this.
 
The first step was to attach the margin plank to the sub deck. The margin plank was made from mahogany and .160" wide by .050" thick.  I used engineers dividers to form port and starboard holes in the sub deck at about 1" axial spacing. I then used pins through these holes to create a stop against which to press and form the margin plank. More pins were positioned on the outside of the margin plank to hold the plank in place and CA glue was run in to form the permanent joint. The margin plank is not full width as the tumbleholme on the bulwarks would prevent the deck dropping in place. I will add addition width to the margin plank once the deck is installed on the hull. I have a very useful redundant cork bath mat for tasks like this. The pins go in very easily but are very solid when resisting side load.
As you can see I have not got very far with the plan:-

 
 

Eberhard:-
 

Well, the reason Trump went for it are the mineral resources ... one of my activities in the arctic institute was to help develop mineral resources in a sustainable and socially responsible way.
In the wake of my work in that institute, I got quite interested in the traditional kayaks and collected a good number of printed resources on them. At some point our institute was presented with a kayak, but it wasn't terribly original anymore.
Together with a number of colleagues I developed a course for a master degree in 'arctic studies', aiming to train students inter alia in sustainable management of resources and cultural awareness. We had a series of 'bonus' classes and I put together a lecture on the various types of boats used in arctic waters, including kayaks, umiaks, and others.
So, if you have some kayak pictures, I would be interested ...
 
Ah, and yes, I am looking forward to your progress on the GERMANIA !

Hello John - yes - we were in Greenland when the offer to buy was made. It didn't seem to prompt any celebrations. Funnily I did think of you while in town of Nanortalik. The town had a museum with a good display of traditional Kayaks. I thought you might like to extend your canoe building skills. More pictures available if you are interested. Because Greenland didn't have trees the kayaks were made from driftwood.

Eberhard - I have to agree that the Greenland people were lovely, very friendly, gentle and welcoming. As tourism develops maybe things will change but for the moment it remains an idilc destination for those who want to avoid tourist traps.
 
Nanortalik:-
 

 

Hi Bedford. Interestingly although the cruise was from Tilbury about 10% of the guests (80 people) had flown in from Australia to join.
 
I have just senp a couple of days getting restarted on Germania. You may recall that I had previously marked out the sub deck in preparation for planking. I had also marked out the positions of the cut outs for the various deck houses and these were removed with a craft knife.
 
Once the holes were cut out I transferred their positions to the deck beams in preparation for removing them. The beams were subsequently cut away with a razor saw.

Additional beams were then added to provide all round support for the deck penetrations.

The sub deck was then placed back in position to check that alignment.

I will start on the deck planking next.
 
 
 

beautiful planking and treenailing job,
a great looking model
 
Nils

Rudder pendants

Turns out there's 17 blocks and bullseyes on the main mast.
 
Went back and decided to finish the ships boats. A little putty and sanding, then paint.Tie it down and its done.

Thank you Dirk and Dave.
The copper wire has arrived and I'm good to go.🙂

2406
Following a trial I am going with 500gm 0.56mm diameter copper wire.
So the tiresome business begins, there are some 50 bolt holes per strake and 17 strakes per side.
I just hope I come out the other side with some degree of sanity  remaining.🙄
 
B.E.
23/09/2019
 
 

Here is a couple of pictures to show that I haven't been procrastinating on the Ratlin Rita. I have the front deck planked and working on the engine hatch and rear hatch now.

Hello all
 
I tried the small sanding stick but I was taking the black paint off the hoops, I did my best.
I have given them a coat of gloss varnish and they do look a wee bit better, still not as good as I would like though.
 
Now I have to cut the stairs down so I can glue it inplace.
 

Happy days.
 
Jolene.

Hi All
 
I have had a bit of a change; I decided to have a wee go at the barrels, so I have put a coat of sanding sealer on them.
I then thought that the hoops should be painted black, so I got some 2mm tape and had a go at taping round the hoops so I could paint them, I thought I was being clever till I removed the tape, the paint had gone under the tape, so I am not a happy Jo today as it took me hours to do the taping.
 
Now I have 7 more to paint.
 
Happy days.
Jo.
 
 
 
 
 

Hello all.
 
Just a small up date.
I have planked the cabin walls and roof, also made the sliding hatchway door (yes it works ha-ha).
I have only coated the wood in a sanding sealer.
I have a tool box to make then place it in front of the cabin then I can finish putting some strips of wood round the cabin front.
 
Happy days.
 

Jo.

Hello all
 
As I said I have drilled the holes for the mast and the bowsprit (thank you Carl I did not know the name of that part).
 
I am sorry I have made a mess of the holes, I only had my Dremel and some small drills, so I drilled some holes and finished with a round file.
I have also cut a tapered the bowsprit sorry about the clip holding it up.
Also I have planked the rudder but the plans don't say I should do it but I did anyway, I have also glued some strips round the bulwarks (I think they are for tying ropes on).
 

Jolene (Jo).

Interesting concept though I suspect you would damage a lot of the wood taking it apart. 
 
I think you would have more success  with a second model and using the first to improve skills. Or go and scratch build where you can re-make the same part ten times until you are happy.
 
 

My idea
 
because I then think I could build it better
I have this problem with every model that I build. Once it is finisht, errors pop up.  I learn from my mistakes and try not to do them anymore in the next model.
 
How much of the material could I reuse if I tear it down?
That depends on how much you want to change. 
 
And how much would the new material cost, approx?
Dont now, but buying a new kit and starting over is probably the cheapest, I think.
 
 
 
 

Thanks, guys, and for the likes. There are eleven separate laser cut sheets in various thickness's and six separate PE brass and copper sheets. I did mean for this to be a quick development, but as usual it didn't turn out to be so, as I knew such a vessel deserved more attention. I haven't compromised very much with this kit, and is as I would like it if I were to buy it. However, lack of compromise always equates to a higher price, but if the Alert sales have taught me anything, it's that people prefer quality materials over standard. This weekend I managed to write the complete parts list, take the main box art photos and then put the box art together. I have the manual and plan sheets to do next, but all pics and line drawings are already done, so I just need to make up the manual and add the text (which takes longer than it sounds, as it is just me doing everything....)
 
There is only one metal casting in this kit (anchors), as I hate white metal. The 14 x 4-Pounder barrels are cast in resin (so perfect shape and scale), as are the 20 half-Pounder swivel guns. Having these done in resin is a lot more expensive than white metal, but I feel a lot better knowing the quality is perfect, and I do not think people will mind paying a little more for such fittings that require no finishing aside from perhaps scraping the smallest amount of easily removable flash. The guys that do the resin castings for me are experts in resin and injection moulding kits and well established, so quality is never an issue on that front.
 
I think I already mentioned this, but I did add at the last minute an extra cradle on the 3mm MDF laser sheet, for use whilst building the model, leaving the clear acetate nice and clean for the finished model.
 
I already have the Speedy resin castings done and here with me, plus the laser engraved decks. The final laser cut and PE have been given to my colleague in Italy to be done, and the pear wood strip ordered and on its way. For future gun resin castings, they will be cast in black - I didn't realise at the time that this was an option, dammit!
 
I am aiming for a late October (possibly November if I have problems with getting final parts in time or finishing plans/manual take longer than I thought) for release. I cannot give a final price yet, as I still need to know the cost of the PE and laser cutting, but I am aiming for the following (all versions relate to secondary planking materials):
 
Tanganyika version - £220 (as shown on prototype model)
Pear or cherry - £245
Boxwood (limited to 15 kits) - £280
 
All versions will include the copper plating, Cochrane figure and 18 foot cutter.