Mahuna

Hi Brian, Bob, and Mark After thinking some more about the pin rails, I decided to go ahead change them. The old pin rails, being so thick, left very little pin sticking out of the bottom of the pin rail. This would definitely cause some major headaches during rigging, so it's probably better to spend the time changing them out. I used iso alcohol in a syringe with a very fine blunt needle to put the alcohol only where I needed it. After letting it soak into the pin rails for a minute or two, I was able to pull the pin rails off their supports. Most of the pin rails came off fairly easily. Some of the supports came with them. One of the things I was worried about was breaking a stanchion that a pin rail was attached to. This did indeed happen, but only one stanchion. The old pin rails were 1/8 wide and 1/16 thick, with the pins in the center of the rail. I made the new pin rails 3/32 wide and .045 thick (slightly less than 3/64), and I also positioned the pins so that they are closer to the front - approximately 1/32 from the front edge. The smaller width will allow me to position the pin rails so that there is a slight gap between the pin rail and the stanchion. This may come in handy during some of the rigging. In the following photo, an old pin rail is on the left and a new one is on the right. The pins are 1/16" apart from each other. This gives a pleasing appearance, but doesn't give much room for lines going to adjacent pins. I've looked at the rigging plan, and there really aren't a lot of cases where this will be a problem, since most of the pins will be empty (since there are no sails the running rigging is much simplified). In the case where there are adjacent lines, I will design the pin rail so that there's more room between the pins. I'm going to keep working on this today until I get it completed (hopefully), then I'll post some photos of the new pin rails in place. Mark - thanks for bringing this up. It caused a little rework, but it will be well worth it.

Hi Bob: The scale is 1:77, so 1/16 thick is almost 5 inches actual, which is too thick. I probably should have made the pin rails 3/64, which would have been about 3.5 inches. I think the depth of the pins in the rail - they're centered on a 3/32 rail - is also going to be a little bit of a problem. All that being said, I just don't want to rip it and and do it over, so I'm going to have to deal with it.

Thanks Mark. I checked as you suggested, and the pin rails are too thick. I did follow the specifications for the kit, but perhaps the belaying pins for the kit were larger (and out of scale). I could probably rip them out and correct the size of the pin rails, but I don't want to prolong this build so I'll find a way to deal with it. This is, after all, a learning experience - and I've learned a lot so far.

Lots of other strange things to look at on Paragon, as well. Will you be bringing my new camera?

Paragon – a Modified Mayflower Part 10– Pin Rails and Kevels When I decided to build the Paragon as my first scratch build, I also made the decision that I would not purchase any components for the ship, but would make everything myself. Well, that lofty goal lasted until I reached the point that I needed belaying pins. At the scale of the model, 14” belaying pins would only be 3/16”. I do have a Sherline lathe, and I guess with enough trial and error I could learn to produce the belaying pins I needed, but I don’t want this to be the only model I scratch build during my lifetime. Model Expo had some 3/16” belaying pins that I could buy, so that saved me quite a bit of work. The pins are nicely shaped, and once blackened they served my needs well. (The photos of the belaying pins and the pin rails leave a lot to be desired, and I apologize. Once Brian gets me my new camera I’m sure the photography will improve. ) Making the pin rails was pretty straightforward. I made them out of stock 1/8 wide and 1/16 thick, and cut the lengths to conform to the number of stanchions they would need to cross. I made brackets out of 1/8 x 1/8 stock for holding the rails to the stanchions. The Kevels took a little more thought. I decided to make them according to the illustrations in the kit booklet – a v-shaped upright with a cross piece. Since there were 8 kevels in all, and I wanted to make them identical to each other, I decided to mass-produce the uprights using Ambroid glue. I started by gluing 16 pieces of 1/16 stock together. Once the glue was set, I shaped the grouping to the profile of an upright – essentially a straight length of wood with a curved knob on one end. When shaping was done I soaked the grouping in a bath of acetone, which separated the grouping into the 16 individual parts. The cross pieces were made of stock 1/8 wide by 1/16 thick. I milled a slot in each cross piece to allow the 1/16 uprights to fit in the slot, then assembled the kevels. I was pretty happy with the results. Next is fashioning the rudder and its hardware.

Looks great - your workmanship at such a small scale is something to emulate.

Hi Ron - just found your log, and appreciate all the research you put in. I also have the Kathryn documentation from HAER, and hope to scratch build her one day.

Very nice work, Hartmut. I'll be following your build with great interest.

I agree on the Woodslicer. I have a 14" Rockwell (over 60 yrs old) and keep the 1/2" Woodslicer blade on it.

Hi Brian - good thinking. Seems to me that you're ready to leap into the scratch-building side of the pool.

Thanks folks. I won't be posting any more updates for a few days - have some commitments for the holiday weekend. Enjoy the weekend!

Hi Marsalv: I just found your log, and will be following along. Very nice work!

Paragon – a Modified Mayflower Part 9– Stanchions and Railings In the last post, I mentioned that I started the hull planking before I finished the planking in the Poop area, because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do there. I had already planked the entire stern area with African Pear and a little bit of Madrone, without carrying any moldings around it, and it looked pretty bare to me. I decided to add some decorative planks and moldings to the top of the hull in the area of the poop deck, and to carry that effect around the stern. I thought that was more pleasing to the eye (don’t forget that I have lots of poetic license going here). From the upper wale, moving up, there are 3 moldings of 1/16 x 1/16 Yellowheart. There is a strake of Walnut between the second and third of these moldings. Then there is a molding of 1/16 x 1/16 Bloodwood between two double strakes of African Pear. The next molding is 1/16 x 1/16 Holly (I love this wood and wish I had used more of it on the ship). The decorative works on top consists of two double-width (1/4” width) strakes of Yellowheart bordered by Holly moldings. All of these moldings were carried around the stern, and I liked the effect much better. Most of the details (stanchions, pin rails, ladders, etc) were made of African Pear, in keeping with the tones of the ship. I wish I had discovered earlier how the African Pear tends to splinter. By the time I discovered that, it was too late to change. I used some polishing blocks used by nail technicians to try to smooth out the pear strips – it worked better than sandpaper, but still was not able to get a perfectly smooth finish. The stanchions are 1/16 x 3/32 strips of African Pear. I used a 1/8” strip as a spacer between stanchions. After the stanchions were installed, additional 1/8 x 1/16 planking needed to be added to form ‘railings’ and to complete the body shape. The result was pleasing to the eye, and could have been left as is. In fact, this is how the kit model is finished. However, the ship I was building needed real railings to conform to descriptions in the story line. There were parts of the ship built of ‘wizardwood’ that made the figurehead and the ship an integrated whole – the figurehead, the bottom of the ship, and the railings. I used the Madrone as the ‘wizardwood, therefore I needed to install Madrone railings around the ship. Long before I reached this point I had foreseen the need for miniature C clamps (and to be honest I just wanted to see if I could make them). I used 3/4'” Aluminum U channel to make the clamps. I drilled and tapped holes for 6-32 screw threads about 1/2 inch apart, then parted off slices slightly larger than 1/8 inch. After filing the edges and sides to get rid of any jagged pieces I inserted 6-32 x 1 inch socket cap screws into the threaded hole, then added a nylon lock nut to the screw. These clamps wound up being perfect for holding the Madrone railings while the glue set. I mitered the corners of the railings, but needed to make adjustments to allow for the fact that the corners were not perfect squares. Overall I’m very pleased with the effect, even though the railings are somewhat larger than scale would indicate, and I think the railings add a nice finishing touch to the ship. Next up: Pinrails and Kevels

Brian - if you want to get me a better camera I'd be happy to take it! Patrick - thanks for continuing to look in - it means a lot. Bob - yeah, making tools and jigs is a big part of what I enjoy about the hobby.

Patrick - your work at this scale is unbelievable. Frank

Hi Ed: I really like the concept of using the hold-down bolts, but I'm having a hard time envisioning when you will actually secure the ship to its base. It seems that most of your work is done on your shipway (and secured to the shipway via the hold-down bolts?), and it strikes me that it would be difficult and dangerous to the model to attach the bolts through base and model when the model is nearing completion. Can you say a few words on how and when you attach the model to the final base? Frank

Very nice tutorial, Brian, and a well thought-out process too. I like what you did with the catheads - glad to see your getting lots of use out of the lathe already. Frank

Paragon – a Modified Mayflower Part 8 – Hull Planking - 2 The planking above the upper wale was mostly completed, but I still had a few strakes left on the sides of the poop deck area. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to plank those, so I proceeded with the hull planking, which promised to be a major effort. I started by lining out the hull and identifying the position of the lower wale. This wale would be the border between the African Pear used for the upper hull planking, and the lighter color of Madrone for the planking from the lower wale down to the keel. I lined out the hull by following the process outlined in Chuck’s practicum on Lining Off the Hull for Planking, which can be found at the following link: http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/Lining%20Off%20your%20hull%20for%20planking.pdf Once again I used 1/8” black artist’s tape for the lining. Once the line for the upper wale was established I used a light blue artists’ pencil to mark that line so that it stood out. I could no longer use the 1/8” planks that I had previously produced, so I needed to produce a supply of planks wide enough to allow spiling to extreme shapes, as shown in the following photo. I used plank lengths that would represent planks that were approximately 20 – 30 feet long in actual size – model size was 3” – 4.5”. My method of attaching the clamps was to apply a thin layer of PVA glue to the plank and to the hull with a small paintbrush, and to put 2 or 3 small drops of gap-filling CA glue at the ends and middle of the planks. I then held the plank in place for about 2 minutes so that the CA would hold. This took the place of using clamps. As soon as I started planking I had trouble with the planking at the bluff bow. I couldn’t get a clean line by using a regular compass, so I needed to develop a tool I could use for the spiling. I had on hand a basic carpenter’s compass, which had a small mechanism that held the pencil and allowed the pencil to be adjusted easily. I took the compass apart so that I could use the device for holding the pencil. I then milled a small piece of wood so that one side was grooved to hold a pencil, and so that there was a mounting slot and hole for the pencil holder. I epoxied a small brass strip to one side and a small brass rod to the other (at opposite ends). The small rod was very close to the pencil tip, and the brass strip was farther away, as in the following photos. With this tool I was able to properly spile the planks, even at the very tight bluff bow where the planks needed to be spiled to a very tight curve while also being tapered fairly radically. The end with the small rod was used for tight curves, and the end with the strip was used for gentle curves. This worked out quite well. I also want to mention some of the other tools I used for shaping planks. I have a couple of very small planes that work really well in shaping the planks. I also used several different rifflers and sanding sticks for shaping. I replaced the jaws of my Panavise with lengths of hardwood that would enable me to hold a plank over its entire length. When I had completed the hull planking down to the location of the lower wales, it was time to cut the wales. The wales were bent by soaking in very hot water, and then clamping them to the hull using rubber bands. The wales needed to be stained before they could be installed, since they would border finished planks along the top edge. I was so busy planking that I neglected to take photos of the process – once again I apologize. Here are some photos of the finished planking: There were some areas where I needed to use small amounts of filler. I had previously read on MSW about using sawdust for filler, so I made it a point to thoroughly clean my bandsaw before cutting out billets of planking wood, and then collecting the surface sawdust after sawing was completed. I mixed this sawdust with PVA glue to form a paste, and carefully pressed it into the slight openings where they existed. I made sure to wipe any overflow off with clean water. If you know the filler is there you can see it, but it gives a nicely finished appearance. The last item on the agenda was to determine how I would finish the planking, and the model in general. My choices were rub-on poly, oil-based poly, and water-based poly. My objective was to find a finish that would still leave a good contrast between the African Pear and the Madrone. I made up some test strips of both woods that would let me determine the best finish. The clear winner was the water-based poly. It also had the added advantage of being easiest to clean up. Next up will be stanchions, rails, etc. – fun work as compared to the stress and tedium of planking.

Thanks Bob. I've learned a lot by watching you and other fine modelers on MSW.

Thanks Patrick. Complex lines and curves made for a complex planking job, but a very good learning experience.

Hi Brian Our next meeting is in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to seeing your latest work - fabulous! Frank

Thanks Brian. I fixed the link (I changed the folder structure after I had copied/pasted the link into the post - duh!).

Paragon – a Modified Mayflower Part 7 – Hull Planking - 1 I’ve read several comments by different modelers saying that the building of a ship model can (and probably should) be viewed as a number of projects, and this rang true to me when I started the hull planking. The first stage was in the design of the planking. I needed to plan out the woods to be used for the general planking and for the decorative strakes and moldings. As I said earlier, I wanted to ‘paint with wood’, and this all needed to be planned out before planking should begin. The document at the following link describes the woods that I used. https://www.dropbox.com/s/n641tqtye0sy3lh/MY%20CHOICES%20OF%20WOODS%20FOR%20PARAGON.docx?dl=0 Learning to cut consistent planks was another major effort. I’ve documented the process in a separate file that can be viewed at the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1jcfdioqfs1c0c5/Milling%20Planks.docx?dl=0 There are two wales that determine the flow of the planking. The top edge of the upper wale is even with the sheer of the main deck. I used 1/8” wide artist’s tape to mark the flow of the planksheer, repositioning the tape as necessary to get a fair flow of the tape. The bottom of the tape was lined up with the top of the main deck planks. When I thought I had the flow of the tape right I nailed a 1/16 x 1/32 batten against the hull, lined up with the bottom of the tape. The wales are a consistent 3/16” wide, and are 1/16” thick. I needed to use a spiling technique to make sure they had the proper flow. I used the spiling technique described in David Antscherl’s excellent write-up, which is in the MSW Database at the following link: http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/Planking%20primer.pdf After installing the upper wales I stained them to look like ebony. I could do this when they were already in place because I’d be planking over any area of the hull that got stain on it. A good friend had given me a piece of ebony, and I used that as a reference for the color. Ebony is what artists call a ‘warm black’, which has some brown tones. Note: A pure black can be made by combining equal parts of blue and brown (I use Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber). A cool black is made by using more blue than brown. Conversely, a warm black is made by using more brown than blue. I installed the upper wales on both sides of the hull. The wales ran from the beakhead bulkhead to the stern, covering the ends of the stern planks. Sorry – no photos of the upper wales in place by themselves, but here’s a photo of the first couple of strakes of planking with the upper wales. I installed the planking on both sides of the hull as I went along to keep the strakes lined up as much as possible. I planked the hull above the upper wales first, and all planks were a uniform thickness of 1/8” for the entire run of the strake. I did need to do some edge bending of some planks, but this was not extreme and was done by soaking the plank in hot water and then carefully shaping it over a heated plank bender. When I reached the point that the ship was planked to the top of the forecastle I started planking down from the upper wale, which is the subject of the next post.

Brian Don't buy if you can borrow! You're welcome to use any of my accessories before you decide to buy them.

Hi Bob It looks like this will be a very delicate build for a while. I'm looking forward to seeing how you develop the hull strength.