Mirabell61

Update
 
building the  companionways to the lower deck. Will have one of the two with shut door, the other with open door for view on the downward stair. (dry fit)
Have built twelve skylights to date....
 
Nils
 

 
Holding jig for mounting the parts
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Update
 
building the  companionways to the lower deck. Will have one of the two with shut door, the other with open door for view on the downward stair. (dry fit)
Have built twelve skylights to date....
 
Nils
 

 
Holding jig for mounting the parts
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Update
 
building the  companionways to the lower deck. Will have one of the two with shut door, the other with open door for view on the downward stair. (dry fit)
Have built twelve skylights to date....
 
Nils
 

 
Holding jig for mounting the parts
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Update
 
some of the actual ships upper structures are from planked wood and I would like to resemble this as well...., Thats why some aft deck housings and later on also the housings / structures around the forward comand bridge on upper levels are obviosly wooden planked.
In order to resemble the wooden planking, I made some little test pieces of 3 mm wood stripes with pencil caulked edges. Whereby the nutwood stripes come out too dark, the test piece with beech planking and a light cherry stain and varnish on it comes near to mahagony with a light silky appeal, and builds a good contrast to the brass window frames
 
Put on the aft hatch with two compagnionway hatch-type-entrees, and the large doublestory light before the aft deck winches......
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Update
 
building the  companionways to the lower deck. Will have one of the two with shut door, the other with open door for view on the downward stair. (dry fit)
Have built twelve skylights to date....
 
Nils
 

 
Holding jig for mounting the parts
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

beautiful work Bob,
 
gunport lids and doors in the bow section look fantastic, precise and clean !!   
 
Nils

Update
 
building the  companionways to the lower deck. Will have one of the two with shut door, the other with open door for view on the downward stair. (dry fit)
Have built twelve skylights to date....
 
Nils
 

 
Holding jig for mounting the parts
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Update
 
building the  companionways to the lower deck. Will have one of the two with shut door, the other with open door for view on the downward stair. (dry fit)
Have built twelve skylights to date....
 
Nils
 

 
Holding jig for mounting the parts
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Update
 
some of the actual ships upper structures are from planked wood and I would like to resemble this as well...., Thats why some aft deck housings and later on also the housings / structures around the forward comand bridge on upper levels are obviosly wooden planked.
In order to resemble the wooden planking, I made some little test pieces of 3 mm wood stripes with pencil caulked edges. Whereby the nutwood stripes come out too dark, the test piece with beech planking and a light cherry stain and varnish on it comes near to mahagony with a light silky appeal, and builds a good contrast to the brass window frames
 
Put on the aft hatch with two compagnionway hatch-type-entrees, and the large doublestory light before the aft deck winches......
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Update
 
building the  companionways to the lower deck. Will have one of the two with shut door, the other with open door for view on the downward stair. (dry fit)
Have built twelve skylights to date....
 
Nils
 

 
Holding jig for mounting the parts
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Update
 
building the  companionways to the lower deck. Will have one of the two with shut door, the other with open door for view on the downward stair. (dry fit)
Have built twelve skylights to date....
 
Nils
 

 
Holding jig for mounting the parts
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

good, smart and thought trough tooling Michael,
 
and nice progress with the repair
 
Nils

Thank you to all the visitors.
 
I spent the rest of the afternoon making the top units, they were sliced off some 1 1/2 x 3/4x 1/8th thick scrap channel from the scrap box. The screws are 8x32 and the top wood is 1/4 x 1/2 x 3" Jellutong.
 

 

 

 
The fracture line is visible at the moment on the dry run assembly, when it is finally tweaked ready for glue the line will hardly be visible.
 

 
Have started to do some mix testing for the bottom paint color, it is also a simple way to fill the slight indents with paint
 
Michael 

Bob the tool will serve a number of functions, I used it today to clamp on the strip of wood that is under the metal side piece first.
 
There was a fair chunk gouged out of the piece so I spliced in a bit of wood first, and shaped it.
 

 

 

 

 
The I spent at least an hour walking back and forth from the shop to the clean room getting the large section of the metal side back to conforming to the side sheer of the main deck. All the clamps are set as stops to position the side the important thing was to be able to place it and have it seat properly without any pressure. once the lower section was set then I used a card template to put the proper curve back into the upper piece using the same method that I used to get all the twists out of it in the first place.
 

 

 
Next on the list was to replace the missing posts on the upper part. On close inspection the section that was used looked a lot like some very small nickle silver "N" gauge rail so I cut up some code 70 rail filed off the head of the rail which left a t section of nickle silver basically the same size as the original posts.
 
I used the new clamp fixture to do the soldering.
 

 

 

 
Michael
 
 

Update
 
some of the actual ships upper structures are from planked wood and I would like to resemble this as well...., Thats why some aft deck housings and later on also the housings / structures around the forward comand bridge on upper levels are obviosly wooden planked.
In order to resemble the wooden planking, I made some little test pieces of 3 mm wood stripes with pencil caulked edges. Whereby the nutwood stripes come out too dark, the test piece with beech planking and a light cherry stain and varnish on it comes near to mahagony with a light silky appeal, and builds a good contrast to the brass window frames
 
Put on the aft hatch with two compagnionway hatch-type-entrees, and the large doublestory light before the aft deck winches......
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Thanks Mike,
 
I googled up "Galley Washington" and noticed she was lateen rigged, an interesting looking ship and an just as interesting model you`re going for... 
wish you much fun with the build
 
Nils

Thanks Mike,
 
I googled up "Galley Washington" and noticed she was lateen rigged, an interesting looking ship and an just as interesting model you`re going for... 
wish you much fun with the build
 
Nils

Earlier this year I decided to build a model of the first ship I sailed in at the start of my sea career. “Fulani” was an ocean going general cargo vessel built at Cammel Laird’s, Birkenhead, England in 1929, so she was an old timer when I joined her at Tilbury Docks in 1957, first trip cadet.  She was a five hatch vessel with number three hatch separating the bridge accommodation from the engineers’ and boat deck. Her funnel was tall and straight, she had a counter stern and her stem was only slightly raked.  
   
 
 
 
   
 
I had no drawings of the ship and all my efforts to track down info about her failed.  All I had for reference was a faded photograph (above) taken by me from a taxiboat and a photo (below, sent me by an internet source) of the ship as she had been before she was sold and renamed “Fulani”. She had been built and launched as “Thurland Castle”.  
 
   
 
 
 
   
 
It’s a better picture than mine but there are differences. In 1950 there had been a fire in nos two and three holds that destroyed the bridge structure above, so the bridge house is different in each picture.  In addition to the new bridge structure two extra derricks with winches were installed at the aft end of number 2 hatch.  So using these two pictures and my somewhat hazy memory of her, I made a profile drawing and a deck plan.  
 
   
 
To get the size of structures and the distances between them as accurate as I reasonably could I made an enlarged copy of Thurland Castle on two sheets of A4 paper taped end to end and, stretching a string tightly across my work table I pegged the picture to it.  Then, using a set square as a plumb, I dropped the perpendiculars from selected points along the main deck down to a white sheet laid flat on the table and beneath the picture.  I used red marks for centreline points such as stembar, masts and funnel, and black for closest points such as corners of bridge house, boat deck and selected rail stanchions. Next I laid a metre long piece of one inch square offcut across the marks and, as near as I could judge, at the same angle as the ship had been to the camera lens.  Lastly and as faithfully as I possibly could I transferred the marks to the wood. I believe that the measurements I got from those marks are as true as I could get to “Fulani’s” measurements when scaled up.  
 
   
 
This is to be a waterline model 85cms long and made from whatever I can find that is thought to be useless.  Driftwood, old electric cable, bits of a garden fence, scraps of veneer from a badly scarred skateboard park, a wire coat hanger and a Vitamin C capsule tube. This last will become the funnel.  
 
My use of scrap materials and my rule of thumb measurements will make many of our members cringe, I know, because I can see what care and attention to detail and finish is brought to the making of so many breathtakingly beautiful models in the Gallery.  But I see myself as a modeller in the tradition of the sailing ship men who put ships in bottles, producing something fine from things that were finished with.  I hope that what I finish with will be thought fine as well.  
 
    
 
I have started on the hull using two planks from a garden fence, now replaced by a wall, and a piece of wood that was coloured pink and mint green and must surely have come from an ice cream parlour.  They’re the right length and width and, planed and roughly shaped their combined thicknesses will, when glued flat-on-flat, give me the block from which Fulani’s hull will emerge.  
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
  Since my last log entry I have followed Oystein’s tip and found several pictures of Fulani including one taken from a position directly abeam as she sailed past             This, enlarged, has enabled me to take more accurate measurements than my frugal “stick at an angle” method gave me and showed that I had the funnel a little further aft than it should be, I had made the foredeck sheer too steep and. I had too much rake on the stem. But most welcome was the clear view of the undercut counter stern. It’s in deep shadow in the other pictures and I was hopelessly out in my drawing of that. I now have a new profile drawing to work from. The changes have meant that my sandwich of three boards has had to be altered somewhat.  I am still shaping the hull on the port side, the plan being to get that side right first and then make profiles at regular stations along the hull.  These I will use to match the starboard side accurately to the port side.       Meanwhile I have made two of the four lifeboats. I’m quite pleased with them (and with myself) because I didn’t find it easy to make a 4cm long copy of a 28 foot boat and make it look convincing.     I found the wood lying in the rocks on the shore. It had been in the sea for some time, and so seemed the right piece of my scrap collection to use for lifeboats.  I found the best way to shape the hull was to clamp the wood in a vice, edge up, and cut downwards to the 6mm depth that the miniature should be, a cut at each end of the boat with a fine saw blade.  Then it was easy enough to cut away the curved shape of the hull and sand it smooth. (Fulani’s boats were clinker construction but these boats will have to be carvel as my skills are limited.)  Once I was satisfied with the hull shape I sliced it off the piece of flotsam and made the downward arcs of the gunnels at each side while keeping the centreline between stem and sternposts intact and parallel to the keel, this so that the boat’s cover would assume the right shape.  Next I cut from thick card the keel and end posts, all in one piece so that the whole could be glued to the hull.  Finally I made from artist’s grey coloured pastel paper a boat cover to fit.  With the boat painted white and the cover glued on, I am pleased with the result and feel confident now that I will manage to tackle other tricky miniatures such as ventilator cowls, DB tank air pipes, anchors, a ship’s bell.             I've done two lifeboats and have made davits.  For these I used a wire coat hanger. The wire is thick enough to seem right for Fulani's boat davits and shaped and painted are, I believe, convincingly to scale.             The wood the davits are arranged on is the piece that spawned  the two lifeboats.   My next step, while continuing to shape the hull, is to build the structure that is the engineer's and PO's accommodation with the boat deck over.  This is when the skate board roller rink scraps come into use.             Nothing but the worst on this build.                                  

Congrats, Looks like you have chosen a precision high quality kit, I like that lapstrake planking very much, looks very realistic for the "Hanse Kogge"
 
Nils

LA SANTISIMA TRINIDAD   1769 / 1805
Hola amigos:
 Para la realización de este proyecto se ha partido de copias o de planos de época de autenticidad indudable, y correspondientes a su estado en 1797 justo antes de la batalla de San Vicente. En esa batalla la Santísima Trinidad resulto muy dañado y no se conoce con certeza las obras que hicieron de reparación en la popa y en la proa.
Los planos necesarios para el modelo que se esta realizando  (escala 1 / 72) son obra de nuestro compañero Chimista, partiendo de los planos originales de 1797, y completados por dibujos de los alzados de proa y de popa hechos según su criterio a partir de la vista lateral del casco, así como de otros planos de navíos de 112 cañones de la época correspondiente, planos del Museo Naval  de Madrid
El dibujo de la peineta o coronamiento de popa es una conjetura del autor del proyecto basado en las formas que aparecen en la vista lateral.
Como  podéis imaginar este proyecto es el resultado de varios meses de arduo trabajo de investigación, los planos han sido revisados, corregidos, y dibujados, tratando en todo momento de aproximarse al máximo a la imagen que pudo ofrecer este emblemático navío en el periodo de tiempo comprendido entre la ultima reforma a la que fue sometido en la Carraca 1797 y su triste final en la Batalla de Trafalgar 1805.
Doy las gracias mas sinceras a nuestro compañero Chimista   por la confianza que pone en mí para llevar a cabo este novedoso proyecto… tratare de estar a la altura.
Saludos  Liberto

THE HOLY TRINITY 1769/1805
Hello friends:
 For the realization of this project it has been party copies or drawings of undoubted authenticity period, and corresponding to their status in 1797 just before the Battle of San Vicente. In that battle the Holy Trinity was badly damaged and is not known with certainty the repair works made in the stern and the bow.
The plans necessary for the model that is being made (scale 1/72) are the work of our colleague Chimista, based on the original plans of 1797, supplemented by drawings of the raised bow and stern facts at their discretion from the side view of the helmet, as well as other planes of ships of 112 guns of the corresponding period, plans of the Naval Museum of Madrid
The drawing of the comb or taffrail is a conjecture of the author of the project based on forms that appear in the side view.
As you can imagine this project is the result of several months of hard research work, the plans have been revised, corrected, and drawn, trying at all times as close as possible to the image that could offer this iconic ship in time between the last reform which was submitted in the Carrack 1797 and its sad end at the Battle of Trafalgar 1805.
I give sincere thanks to our partner Chimista for the trust placed in me to carry out this new project ... I try to keep up.
greetings Liberto

Hi Michael,
 
perhaps, if of use for you, here two suggestions.....
 
cable cord:
I use very flexible control wire for flying wire control model aircraft in two different diam.
one line is 0,3 mm OD and consisting of 7 strands ( each 0,1 mm)  of tin galvanized steel wire. this can be easy and durable soft soldered and secured with mini metal beads
The other line is 0,5 mm OD and consisting of 19 strands ( each 0,1 mm)  of tin galvanized steel wire. this can be easy and durable soft soldered and secured with mini metal beads
 
Lifeboats:
here is a sample in scale 1:100 appr. 86 mm long,  for an open lifeboat with rimm and seats, its plastic, but when painted has a good appeal.... (they come 5 a pack for a very reasonable price)
 
Nils
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Hi Michael,
 
I`m following your restoration with great interest, for its not only showing your progress in work, but here and there also a little glimpse at how the builders made it. I wish you that you keep up with the drive and pace and turn the "Albertic" to new blossom for display again.
I also have many over 10 years old  Humbrol paints, but most of them have dried out although the cans were closed.....
 
Nils

congratulations to finalizing this beautiful and excellent built cutter Bob ,
   ​
 
the pictures are also great, trust your model`s build log sequences will be looked up by many MSW fellow builders
 
Nils

Update
 
some of the actual ships upper structures are from planked wood and I would like to resemble this as well...., Thats why some aft deck housings and later on also the housings / structures around the forward comand bridge on upper levels are obviosly wooden planked.
In order to resemble the wooden planking, I made some little test pieces of 3 mm wood stripes with pencil caulked edges. Whereby the nutwood stripes come out too dark, the test piece with beech planking and a light cherry stain and varnish on it comes near to mahagony with a light silky appeal, and builds a good contrast to the brass window frames
 
Put on the aft hatch with two compagnionway hatch-type-entrees, and the large doublestory light before the aft deck winches......
 
Nils