capnharv2

Thanks Hornet, John and Slog.
 
A reasonable afternoon's work, after puzzling for an hour or so about what goes where, and what to cut etc . The bulkheads are glued to the base, and all tabs are scored and folded. I'm going to glue some balsa between the bulkheads along the edges to make gluing the sides on easier. I can forsee that I'd have a few problems with getting a sharp fold on some of the deck tabs otherwise.
 


 
  Danny

Hi Pat
 
Thank you for your nice comment!
A bit more to enjoy.....
The floor to the engine room is set in again, now from 1mm plywood. This is just thefirst layer of the floor, another layer from 2mm plywood will follow with the engine. And the engine stands are in progress, while I`m still waiting for much more wood and other materials for the Cairo.
The floor in the engine room

 
Beginning of the engine stands. The gaps between the timbers will be filled with small pieces from wood, so the stands will hopefully look like the original ones.


 
Regards, and many thanks for watching & nice likes
Gerhard
 
 

Hi all,
 
I just came across THIS TIP for holding small parts while Silver Soldering as I was looking through another website. I haven't tried it myself yet, but it looks like it should work. Pretty simple . (Click on the pics to see a larger image)
 
There are a couple of tips in the posts below it that also make a lot of sense. Hope someone finds this useful.
 
  Danny

On the recommendation of the Captain K.L., who is an excellent expert in the field of  shipbuiliding and the history, I have decided to add another layer of planking = the girdling.  Some information about this technology, that was used on real ships in 17th century,  you can find in the book by Brian Lavery: The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600-1815; pages 57, 60. 
More information are also in the Czech forum, but you need to use translator.
http://modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=110763&start=105#p2001324
http://modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=110763&start=105#p2001751
 
 

Wooden-look planking on underwater part of the hull.

Dear friends, thank you very much for your comments.  It is a pleasure and honour for me, that you like my work.
Here is the hull oversprayed with acrylic paints and body spray + primer used for cars. After grinding I will start to change it into a wooden look using strips of various  types od foils. I have already written many details about this technology, so if you are interest in that, please refer at my building log Royal Caroline.

After a couple of attempts to turn small mice out of various woods that I have on hand I gave up and turned them in brass. I actually like them better than the wood for their strength.

Next I finished up and rigged the open hearts per photos and bulls eyes. Once the fore mast stays were in place I snaked them this time by tying clove hitches. For those who follow I have found a thread that is great for seizing and serving lines in 40 and 50 weights. There is a limited color offering but it is quilting thread and I also make rope out of it as well.

Here is the fore topmast stay line attachment detail.

Here is more of a overall view.
 

Next I will move on to the traveler rings to finish out the bowsprit stays.
 

Slow going on the rigging as I am making rope to size as needed due to limited space on work bench. And as Geoff has said the ship has gotten much longer now that the bowsprit has been added. I added all the back stays to all the masts three different sizes as they progressed higher. I again used wood strips to align the deadeyes to add the sheer poles as needed. This worked well on the ratlines.

Here is the main mast with the back stays in place. I am going to need a bigger background now as well.

Next I moved on to the bowsprit and will make and add lines working from the center out on the bowsprit. Learned this lesson from the Niagara build. First the bob stays were tied off at the bow and seized as double lines which the seizing on the plan view are represented by dots on the line drawing. Dead eyes were added on the ends with the line joint hidden under the top seizing with the deadeye. Another lesson learned in working with the rigging is to used diluted white glue on the seizing and lines to be cut to have clean cuts. Patience is needed to allow the glue to set which is slower than CA but much easier with no color change. Also the center holes of the bull's eyes had to be enlarged for the lanyard ropes to lay properly.
Here is an example of how I glued the seizing and lines being weighted down as glue set. 
Here are the finished bob stays in place.
 

Next I am going to add the fore stay lines with the hearts, keeping in mind of adding lines from the center out for the bowsprit. Found just a little oops when selecting the hearts to work on.
 

Now back to the fore stays,shaping and painting the hearts and making the rope lines to size. My modified and strengthened ME ropewalk is working perfect, as well as, the lathe setup for serving the ropes. 

Back from visiting the grand kids and getting back to work on the Constitution. I reached a point where the bowsprit is needed for the rest of the stay lines to be rigged. I glued nuts to the strap indexing them on the holes drilled in the straps. I then opened the ends of small jack stays to form hooks for the chain. Chain was hooked on the port side stays and the hook closed on the chain. The chain was dropped down and I made a feed needle for the chain to fish the chain through the holes and attached them on the starboard side stay, closed the hook and carefully cut the chain. I may stain the chain later once the glue has set. In the meantime I found a size of key chain at Michael's that worked for the cannon balls. The chain was glued in lines and cut to rack lengths needed and glued to the racks.





Now onto the back stays and the bowsprit, but first a couple other projects to work on.

Your back must still be bothering you then Carl.
And so it begins, my first ratlines are on. 2.5 hours to get tp this point! Need some adjustment still,  they are not secured yet, I want to get some practice first. The macro shots really show the variations I have.
 

 
 
Not sure if I am going to try to fix the middle lanyard or not it means replacing the entire lanyard and the difference in the length of the seizing (frapping?) isnt as noticeable from a regular viewing distance.
 

 
 
Onward!!
Sam
 

As promised, here is the jig I started doing the ratlines with. It worked pretty well, but the spacing was a bit uneven with it.
I then switched to graph paper as a guide, which is how I have always done ratlines in the past.
I tied all of the fore port ratlines before fixing any of the knots. I then started fixing every fifth line, which corresponds to the ratlines that start at the swifter. Once these dry I will fix the intermediate ratlines. I left one ratline off about 1 1/2" below the top for the futtock stave. I split some3/64 x 3/32 " strips to make 3/64" square strips for the futtock staves. I painted these black.
 

Short excursion to Hamburg Harbour...
Some 50 Km from my home..
 
Yesterday evening my wife and I had an invitation to take a river trip with the live museum steamer and steamship-icebreaker, (built 1933) "Stettin" on the Elbe river. This weekend was the 828 th Hamburg harbour aniversary, and the ride went from 21:00 to midnight. It was rounded off with a beautiful firework over the harbour, and to be watched from board  the ship. The selfmade pics I would like to share with MSW fellow members in two parts....
 
Nils
 
Part 1
 

Maritime museum pier at Övelgönne for traditional ships and work boats, (Elbe river
 

This is the stem powered icebreaker "Stettin" at the river mooring ponton
 

The "Aida Prima" cruise ship passes by
 

The ship hull, all structures and interior make a very good impression
 

 
 

Bridge
 
 

 
Machine telegraph
 
 

I had the chance to be down in the engine- and firing room at the boiler furnaces during departure. The sight of the steam engine at work, the reciprocating piston rods, crossheads and cam levers in live action was just amazing and wonderful. The orders for the machine control came down per machine telegraph, the accompaning "ring, ring" 
was continuosly heard in the background
 
 

Bridge wheelstand with rudder position indicator and compass
 
 

Other side of the river was the container terminal, and during the ride many types of sailships were busy on the stream....
 
 
to be followed by part 2....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Part 2
 

 
most of the ships carried guests
 
 

 
Original steam winch
 
 

 
entering the machine room, here the tripple expansion steam engine cylinder covers (2200 Psi)
 
 

 
machine control stand
 
 

a look into the crankrod section
 
 

 
 

the machine telegraph receiver gave orders every few minutes, was continuiously in action, here a young lady is driving the engine
 
 

 
 

 
round about midnight, a shot at the bridge deckhouse
 
 

 
and finaly arrival back to the point of departure at 01:30 past midnight
 
Nils
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I thought I'd present this image of of the Down Easter (John Rosenfeld).  She is seen here run aground on a reef.  Note the Iron strapped built masts....similar to those on the Glory. ...the Glory was considered a *Down Easter*..because of her *Medium* full bodied design...even though she is also considered one of the last American clippers.  Kind of a hybrid.
 
Rob

Digging I found some old images of Glory during her heyday  years
 
Rob

Thanks Albert...I appreciate that.  I spent an hour or so working on the Glory's rigging...and finished up the mizzen backstays.
Rob 

Finally got in about 45 minutes to rig some backstays on the mizzen.
Rob 

Yes, Danny, I did say that. And I really mean it after this model is completed!
 
Your stagecoach is awesome. Glad you're back.
 
Speedwell has a beautiful quarterdeck bulkhead (see NMM photo above) which I'm working on now. The arched door and molded frame has taken me almost two weeks to reach this point.
Thanks for those who have commented. David and I are hoping to get the first volume of our Speedwell book into print this year (late, very late). It will give three options for building - plank on frame, plank on bulkhead and lift method. Volume two will cover masting and rigging.
 

 
 
 

Not too much to show for this weekend's work  The weather has been so bad for the last several weeks that the garden called to me louder than the workshop.
 

 

 
I had just enough time to make the trail boards.  These are located between the upper and lower cheeks.  There is a hole through it for the gammoning.  On Atalanta there is a frieze painted onto it.   This show's two of Atalanta's apples.  On the Fly, the only other Swan class whose plans I have, there are two dragons on the trail board and the cheeks are decorated as well.  I left the starboard side unadorned and put the frieze on the port side.  The gap between the starboard trail board and the hull represents the thickness of the planking.  The frieze was made the same way the rest of the friezes were made, painted onto paper and then applied to the wood with a thin layer of glue.
 

 

Update, boats
 
most of the boats will be closed and with canvas protection cover, this is my intention....
If it works out I will try to dome some with rolled back canvas, so the seatings can be seen. The prototype for the closed boat is shown in the pics. This will be the master model I take a mould from so to cast the other boats in resin (if it works that way...)
A fender rope is put around the side of the sheer, I hope it will form-off well in the silicone mould
The boats are 60 mm long, and in scale 1:144, two boats are a bit shorter, and the last 3 boats on each side (three story packed ought to be foldable ones)
 
Nils

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

Small update...
 
all 40 raw davits have been made, now every one is being equiped with a lead for the pulley rope in the upper curve and a cleat on the vertical post, just above deck level.
The unprimered section will be painted when the davits are mounted, otherwise I would scrape off the paint where the post passes the bearings, when pushing through...
 
Nils
   
 
 
 

officer briefing two sailors on the aft deckhousing
 

Fig- 72 - With the last Frames in place the Comb Clamps are attached to aline the tops of the frames, and make final adjustments to the deck beams where required, so that the deck Stringers can be soldered in place, thus now forming a single unit, that will hold it’s self together.

Fig- 71 - As each frame is soldered in place at the bottom the assembly is moved through the assembly jig, here the last has taken it’s place.  Forty frames in all was the aim of this project from Frame 40 to Frame 80.  This includes the Main and Mizzen Masts, Crew accommodation  and Galley, together with the Main Hatch and Bilge Pumps.

Future ship builders waiting for the Constitution to be completed by grandpa.
 

A tale of success.... followed by failure.... followed by success:
The first tale of success to report being the completion of the hull planking.  
I did use the 1-1/2 wide by 1/4" thick vinyl lattice strips purchased at Lowe's.  
Ripping down to 1/4" wide by 1/8th think planks on my mini table saw took about 8 hours because the feeding is extremely slow and tedious.  
The result is well worth the effort with perfect planks that can be bent to extreme shapes and easily smoothed to a great surface with a palm sander.
Some areas were touched up using "Bondo" (auto body filler).

Next - The tale of failure.... Dave's Copper Plate Riveting Tool -
First I must say, the single reason I have put off building the Constitution for years is because, after two Vics, The Syren, and a large Pirate ship for my old coaches, I swore I would NEVER build another ship with copper sheathing.
So here I am, once again, the dreaded copper plates.
First, I created a ponce wheel from a fabric marking tool purchased at WalMart. 

Played around with rivet patterns and decided I wanted to use three rows of rivits on each plate.... seen here in the pile on the left.  

Not happy with the accuracy and consistency of the rows as they lined up end-to-end, I had the bright idea of creating a tool that would give me an exact pattern for every single plate.


After several hours of trial and error, the tool was a disaster! 
Getting perfect alignment of the rivet patterns was much harder than it seemed, plus, the individual rivet dimples were just too fat for the scale.

Three days of effort seen above had to be pulled off and scrapped.... bad day in the ship yard!
Back to the ponce wheel.  
The final tale of success comes with developing a method of getting three perfect patterns of rivets that line up consistently end-to-end from plate to plate.
I needed a visual reference to follow with the ponce wheel.  I first marked and cut the copper tape into lengths of ten plates (3/4" long).
I then created a couple of simple jigs used to mark precise lines on the back of the copper strips.

And here's the result I am going with....
Note that I also decided to give the hull a coat of flat black spray enamel in order to improve the adherence of the plates.

Well on my way....