capnharv2

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 279 – Main Yard Stuns'l Booms
 
The main yard was fitted with the two topmast studdingsail booms.  These supporedt the clews of the topmast studdingsails as well as the lower studdingsail yards that weresuspended from the ends of each when these sails were set.  The booms were 42 feet long and 8 3/8" in diameter over their center sections.  They taper to about 5 ¾" at the ends.  All the drawing dimensions are expressed in full size decimals to permit easy conversion based on scale.  The 1/72 converted sizes may be seen penciled on the drawing in the first picture.
 

 
The picture shows a finished boom and the "first trim" of the second – a squared length of Castello marked with centerlines and the two points at the ends pf the straight section.  The boom is grooved for jewel blocks at the outboard end and drilled for a lashing at the inboard end.  The inner hole was also used to fix a temporary tackle for hauling out the boom.  The next picture shows a finished boom set in the boom irons in the retracted position.
 

 
The booms were shaped by the process described in earlier posts, then polished and finished with wipe-on polyurethane as described earlier.   The next picture shows both booms lashed to jackstay stanchions at the inboard ends.
 

 
The next picture shows a close-up of a lashing.
 

 
I used untarred hemp for these and all lashings or fixings that would have been temporary.  Because of the offset of the booms from the yard centerlines and the gradual taper of the yard, the booms are actually deflected somewhat to pull them fast to the stanchion.  The last picture shows the end of the starboard boom after lashing on the two 9" jewel blocks.
 

 
The upper block handled the sheet for the topmast studding sail, the lower block the halyard for the lower stuns'l yard.  The outer iron is sized for the diameter of the boom's center section.
 
Ed

The pilasters are finished and installed.  Once the middle carved section was completed, the upper and lower parts were made up of various sizes of stripwood.  A coat of finish has been applied to the taffarel and all the parts that needed replacing.  The dreaded quarter pieces are next.
 

 

 

Hi Ed, not only is the 3 dimensional work of the highest calibre but looking at each photograph is also like a treatise on Descriptive Construction Drawings. It is so inspiring following along your build.
 
Michael

It has been another long time since posting but I have two excuses.  First, I went on an extended vacation and started Echo because of ease of transport.  Second...  The second reason is a combination of funny and terrifying.  I had Atalanta sitting on the floor in preparation for taking some photos.  I then tripped on willow-the-wisp and fell into the model inflicting a significant amount of damage to Atalanta.  This included resetting every cannon, installing a new quarter deck rail, new side moldings and several other minor repairs.  Three weeks later I am able to post the photos that I hoped to take on that fateful day.
 
The tafarel carvings have been installed and the assembly has been glued and pinned to the stern timbers.  The rail was fabricated from five pieces of wood.  The relationship between the caprail and the quarter deck rail was difficult to see on the plans.  I hope I built it correctly because I am not doing it again!
 

 

 
 
 
 

Maury, I guess it is a good thing that I don't have too much mass!  Thanks everyone for looking in.  Now back to carving.

Had my eye injection yesterday.  At 10 week intervals now from 4 weeks.  Hope to progress to 12 weeks and eventually be healed but that could be 5 to 8 years I am told.  So yesterday was an painful day.  Today I can see without tearing up or having a massive head/eye ache but I must stay out of dusty environments for 3 days so no shop time for me.
So I worked on my Marquette sculpture.  Very first attempt.  I must say this is fun.  Looked through the house for an old wire cloths hanger but everything is plastic!  So I used 12 gauge copper wire for the internal support.  It seems to be holding up okay.
 
I have to work on the mane, tail, wings, and Bellerophon's head and cloak.  That will be tomorrow and Sunday if necessary.

 
 
 

Hi everyone,
 
Thank you, everyone, for the helpful suggestions. It turns out that it was spiled accurately but it had the opposite of spring-back from the steaming and bending; it was bent a trifle too much, so the middle was sitting about a 1/16" away from the hull in the longitudinal direction while the ends were touching the hull. Finger pressure was enough to get it in place.
 
So after trying a number of failed clamping ideas, I went with Greg's suggestion to use spots of cyano in between the carpenter's glue. After experimenting with a few spare pieces, I just went for it. It took rather longer than 90 seconds to grab, and I was able to get some vertical clamps in. And all held well. Nice to have that behind me, and I learned a new good trick.
 
I also took off the batten, because my clamps are too short to span the entire wale plus the batten. Without the batten, you can begin to see the true lines, as in the second photo.
 
Mark
 
 

Dear friends thank you very much.

Here is what it looks today.  It may not look like much more was done but its very deceiving.  I have been making a great deal of progress by tweaking the drafts...refining the construction concepts etc.
 
In these pictures you can see I added a few more frames.  But more importantly I have faired the frames.  This was important for my design and needed to be done now to test that the chocks would not be sanded away.  Also to test the overall shape but I was pretty convinced that they were OK.  Everything worked out wonderful. What you might find interesting is the fact that none of these frames are glued into the keel....they are all just test fit together and this is also true of my initial test for the port framing.  All the pieces are just dry fit together.  The port sills are not faired yet as you can see.  The fit on all of the pieces and frames was surprisingly good which is what enabled me to fair the inside and out without too much difficulty, although you would/should not try this at this stage.  Its not recommended.
 
The port framing is purposely simplified as some of you know.  I believe they were called fish tail joints in actuality but these are just simplified squared off mortises which will be fine.  For those folks who have more experience and want to create the fish tail joints instead, that will be very easy to do with just a slight modification to the laser etched notches I am using in this kit.   
 
Remember, this is my throw-away test prototype.  I want to get two more frames done and see how the sweep port framing goes and how the scupper tubes fit.  Once that is done I will discard this mess and start over.   Not to mention that after a few tweaks in the concept and build sequence the next iteration will be much better.  I learned a great deal and its almost time for phase two...I will start posting more details at that time once I get this preliminary testing done.  
 
One quick note....I am well aware that other folks creating drafts and making kits dont do this kind of up front work.  Its just something I feel I have to do before releasing anything.  I am constantly making little tweaks that make everything hopefully just a little bit better. This is the cherry version by the way, but I am still going back and forth about using the new wood on the finished one which I will start in a few weeks.  Just a little more testing to do!!!
 

 

 
  

I've finished all the framing - already . This has only taken me a bit over two days, compared to the identical sized Bismarck which took me over a week. Credit is due to Halinski's excellently laser cut pieces - compared to GPM's Bismarck, well, there IS NO comparison. GPM's were really sloppily cut . This framing has also turned out near perfect :





 
Unlike the instructions in Bismarck, Halinski have you fit the (precut) Deck sections to the hull at this stage - without gluing the printed decks to them. This will make things a lot easier, as there's no chance of damaging the decks while fairing and hull skinning with the hull upside-down :


 
I've added extra card for Fillers at both bow and stern. Initial trimming was done with a scalpel, finished off with a 150 grit sanding stick :




 
  Danny

I've gone a fair way into building the framework. The laser-cut parts are EXCELLENT, they are so precise that I need to peel off the top layer of card to allow the tabs to fit into the slots :

 
Here are the four sections. I've also discovered that I won't need to make any extra bracing between the bulkheads - they are supplied in the kit . I haven't fitted any of them yet, I will need to fit the sections together first :



 
So far the design has been brilliant .
 
  Danny

Almost finished....A few more items to add.

Hi all. Here's the start of my latest Card model - HMS Hood, at the time of her short-lived battle with Bismarck. She was sunk on 23rd of May 1941. Information on Hood can be found on Wikipedia HERE.
 
The kit is from Halinski in Poland, a kit manufacturer that I've had some experience with (see "IJN Amatsukaze" in my signature). I had a lot of fun with that kit and found every aspect of it from design, printing and even the instructions to be excellent. A bonus in this kit is that there is a separate sheet of instructions in English, so I won't be needing Google Translate this time. Although I rarely looked at the written instructions anyway , mostly I just used the photos.
 
There are 20 sheets of printed parts. The number of parts on each sheet range from 5 to well over 250, depending on their size :

 
I also bought the Laser-cut set of frames etc. There are 14 different sheets, but also about 6 of them have two identical sheets - some or most of the parts are probably glued together to double their thickness :

 
I also bought the Metal Barrel sets, and whatever PE Halinski had for this ship (12 sheets). However, NO railing was supplied in the PE set, so I will need to buy the Railing Set from Eduard's for the plastic Trumpeter kit - hopefully I won't need to modify too many pieces :

 
I've finished all the initial preparations. I bought two A3 size Display Books to hold all the separate sheets of parts :

 
 
The instructions are mostly in the form of computer rendered pictures which I found much easier to work with than the very poor line-drawings in the Bismarck kit :


 
My final preparation - and one I've found to be invaluable on previous Card kits - was to spend two days cataloguing every part on all the sheets into a Spreadsheet sorted into numerical order with the Sheet Number next to the part. This is quite a lot of work (there are 6 pages of the spreadsheet), but it saves A LOT of time later when searching for parts. Rather than search through all 34 sheets for one small part I can find it in seconds by knowing which sheet to look through :


 
On with the REAL work .
 
  Danny

Tried to walk away but I just had to fold his legs back, shorten the wings more, shorten the pointy end of the spear, and clean up (simplify) the horses legs.
Now I need to let it rest a few days. Have been looking at numerous other figure heads and rigging and I was thinking along the lines of what you (Druxey) had sketched above.
Below is where I went. ... but I admit to liking your sketch a bit more.  It fits better, better scale, alleviates concerns for clearance of rigging and bowsprit.

 
At this time sketches cost nothing but spark ideas and give me something to try to whittle (or carve or gouge).  I think I have a far trip to develop a talent at this bit of wood magic before it can be considered I've gone to far down the road.  I am sure the first 5 to 10 goes would not have a chance to get near my bow!
 
Thank you for having steered me.
 
I have to ask.  How did you create such a nice looking sketch so damn fast?
(Talent?)
 
 

Hello
 
The 26ft longboat : 
 
As mentioned, there's been some trial & error situations but here's my final shot.
Regarding it's color scheme, I must admit there's some personal interpretaion involved.
Furthermore something is puzzling me : referring to the AOTS-book there is some device that seems to secure the helm (see last pic) . Any ideas about its purpose ?
 
Best wishes for 2018 to you all

Thanks, everyone, for your support. I was taken away from the shop for a few days, to rig up a hoist for kayaks--real rigging.
 
I am starting on the lower two strakes of the wales. I originally cut the foremost planks at the round of the bow according to my CAD drawing. But when I spiled to the strakes already installed, I discovered that the upper curve was much more dramatic than my original piece. The photo below shows the original piece at the top, and the card with the spiled edge below, showing the difference in curvature. In hindsight, I realize that I assumed the wales would be dead straight vertical, since they are so at midships; not so at the bow or stern! I made xerox copies of the spiled card for port and starboard. A couple of more pieces for the mistake box.
 
I had spent a great of time on the first two strakes sanding and filing the edges of the planks. I did this freehand with shaped sanding blocks. The challenge was to keep the edge square, or tapered slightly where needed to tighten up the joint. It was a little hit and miss. So I am trying a little jig shown below, which clamps into my jeweler's vise block. The two hold downs secure the plank, and then I can run the sanding block against the edge, keeping it exactly perpendicular. When I need to angle the edge, I will slip a thin spacer under one edge of the plank to change its angle to the table.
 
Mark
 

Thanks for following along, for the likes, and commentary...
 
Still fussing with cannon... I drilled the holes for the rings and hooks that fit to the bulkhead.  The first photo shows the machining jig and drilling tool.  All the barrels are in the carriages and the appropriate hardware added to them.  I also added the trunnion caps made from black paper soaked in CA. (Barely visible in the last photo).  The 2nd pic shows 6 in position to check alignment, etc.   So far... so good.   Now for the fun part... hooks, blocks, and rope for the training gear.  Once that's completed, I'll start adding the breeching and installing the hardware to the bulkhead and connecting everything up.   My only comment is "This stuff is tiny.  Next time, a bigger scale. Admiral permitting of course."  
 

 

 

 

 
 

Another small update.
 
I decided that the straps for the main yard tyes were too long.  Plus I did not like the contrast of the tarred strap with the natural tye.  So here is the quick correction.
 
First photo is the old strap.  These straps are made on a serving machine by taking 12 or so turns between the prongs then serving over, leaving an eye at both ends.  The eyes are then lashed together end to end to make a continuous loop.  This results in an unserved gap over the eyes that is then served manually (not using the machine).  The result is called a selvagee.  I also use this method, or variations of it, to make the strops of blocks.

 
The second photo is a comparison of the new and old straps.  The blocks on either side are the main sheet blocks rose lashed in place.   The other unfinished loops are place holders for blocks that still need to be installed.

 
Here are both of the new straps installed.

 
This last photo will give you some idea of how the tye attaches to the strap.  When installed on the ship a seizing will be clapped on above the hitch to secure it.

Floyd,
 
Does your wife like the copper plating?
 
Harvey

Are you going to coat it? Otherwise it will age naturally.

Thank you John and Carl.
 
All the portholes and steps are fitted. The closest set of steps are about to be painted :


 
There's another Boom near the bow :

 
The main entry ladders are made from PE. I scratchbuilt the platforms :


 
It's now time to fit the screws and rudders which I made 5 months ago :


 
The final things to fit are the two flags, as I usually do. It signals the end of the build . I de-laminated the paper to make it look a bit more realistic, and glued the pieces back-to-back :



 
I only need to glue the model to the base, which I made a while ago. It's just been given it's final coat of lacquer (I'd forgotten to do that earlier ). The final pictures will be posted a bit later today.
 
  Danny

Hello there in outer space,
 
my job keeps me quite busy the last months. But now I wil have more time for my hobbies. This is just a note I'am not raising the white flag on this model.
As a good dad, I finished a fractionating column for my sons model railway first. It's 1/160 scale, made from scrap plastic and cardboard.

 
 
 

I worked a bit on the plaque by adding the name plates.  I ran out of labeling so I'll get some tomorrow.
 
Rob

Made a bit more progress today by simulating the lower stem and keel bolts. Holes were drilled with a #76 bit and filled with .017 black monofilament and PVA glue. I'm not a big fan of CA as it has a tendency to discolor the wood.
 
I anxious to see what the Cherry will look like after a coat of W-O-P. I should know soon enough.


Mike

Floyd,
 
Does your wife like the copper plating?
 
Harvey