edmay

Update July 1st.
I finished gluing the metal cannon frames for both sides of the upper deck, and those of the starboard side of the two lower decks. They are different in shape. They seem to follow a reasonable smooth line across the hull, except at the point of the frame number 9 from right to left where it seems to be a slight jump. Hope this will not be too noticeable once the hull is planked, as it's supposed to follow a smooth curve following the wales.
This is new stuff for me. It's taking me much time.First I had a really hard time trying to understand what the instructions were trying to say. After several tries, the light shone upon me and finally managed to decipher what they meant.
 
(Some further alignment is still possible)
   
 

 
Testing for proper height against a gun carriage
 

 

 

 

 

 

Update June 25 2014
 
I used balsa blocks to fill empty spaces. This is the first time I attempt something like this.
I know it's not the cleanest of the jobs, but I think it will serve its purpose
   
 
 

 
I had to modify the slots where the cannon frames go. They were not aligned properly.
This is a job that has consumed a lot of my time because I know it's a very critical step.
 

 

 
Here I am dry fitting the cannon frames to check that their height is correct so the carriages/cannons assemblies are properly aligned and that the cannons can fit through the openings. A lot of extra trimming/refilling had to be done here.
 

 

 

 

 
 

Hello Nenad, The foil plates look excellent,well done. good info .Edwin

Next 150 pieces
 

 
 

Nenad;  It's good to see your research and testing paid off;  as I think I mentioned much earlier, 90% is researching, thinking, planning, measuring, testing, failing, testing again... and of course the "hmmmm....." before the final 10% of...
 
Success!      and progress!
 
(how long does it take you to affix 200, 200+ plates;  I only cut about 30-50 at  one time...)
 
Also, is your material available in the US?
 
When I coppered, I noticed an errant fingernail would leave a nasty dent if not handled right.  As I posted on my log, we all will get to the point where inverting the hull will be impossible;  I will then invert my hull, check out the copper, and replace where necessary.  I really like the way the natural copper ages, so I won't be coating it with anything.  That is when She'll be permanently mounted to Her mounting board.

Scott, I do not know what to say. I am convinced that in western democracies, described situation is rather exception than a general rule. Here, this is a general rule. But, enough talking about semi-politic, let`s return to Her, She cries and laments that he neglected ... and She is right
 
Yesterday I was inspired to keep on gluing plates, but there was no plates made.
 
Today I was not inspired to glue anything, but want to do something with hands
 
So, I opened factory in kitchen (miraculously  Admiral said nothing), and during chat with Hothead, process started at 18h and finished at 21h
 
First, drawing
 

 
Then riveting
 

 

 

 

 
Then cutting
 

 
First 200 pieces
 

 
200+200 = 400
 

 
400+200= 600
 

 
Some of them have mistakes, and them will be thrown away during gluing
 
Just enough for today, I am going to join Admiral in live room to watch something on TV

Bob
 
...  Are you putting in 16-hour days on the coppering?
 
Optical illusion, Bob ... macro photos, only about 1/4 of one side is done. I can not work more than 2-3 hours continuously because my eyes start to make problems with carefully removing protective foil from this pieces 4x10 mm with needle, and positioning of plates on their exact place ( particularly with narrow gore strakes ends). Some speed up come with little change in preparing plates - first draw 100-200 of them in back of tape, then rivet them carefully with ruler and my new jig, then carefully cut all of them, and after 15-20 minutes, you have 200 pieces ready for glue, and process starts and go relative fast until need for new gore strake appeared. Then light a cigarette, said some Hmmm, and continue until .... 
 
 
 

Hi all...
 
the planking of the Royal Caroline takes good progress. As I mentioned I have changed the wood provided with the kit and bought some teak. Well, I like this wood very much but now I am not sure anymore that it is the best choice for a hull's planking. I will do it till the end and not change once more, but the next time I will have some walnut again. I think this is the best solution for a hull. As the RC is very much decorated and as I will probably paint the lower hull white it will not be so conspicuous.
 
The work itself is very satisfying, nearly no problems or much effort to get the strips bent. At least two weeks will have gone when I am ready with the second planking. Next will be to plank the stern completely, to finish the very small parts of the inner planking and to clean all.
 
Some pics will show the progress at the moment.
 
Cherrio
 
cu
 
Max
 

Hey Mark, it feels great to be reviving my Morgan build. My first order of business after I'm done here, is to clean the dust off of it, that's going to be a challenge in itself.
 
This is the last of the text log I have, after this it will probably be just pictures until I get to where I can get things going again for new entries.
 
Deck Structures:
Besides the tryworks itself, building the deck structures is where a lot of building enjoyment comes in. The kit instructions give alternatives for these. You can plank the structures, or scribe the planking into the supplied sheet stock. At first I tried the scribing, figured it would be easier, and faster to do, but after putting so much work, and time into building the tryworks, I didn’t feel right about just scribing in the details, plus I didn’t like the looks of it. So, I decided to take the time, and build these as I did the tryworks.

The plans that come with the kit shows a lot of construction details for the structures, and accompanied by the vast amount of actual photos of the actual ship that are available, the amount of work, and detail that one could put into these are amazing.

First thing I would suggest doing, is in pencil, make a layout of all the structures on the deck. This way you will have an idea of how it all fits together, and will help with placement of the structures in their correct alignment.

As an example of some things that I did. When I built the Hurricane house, and the smaller Deck House & Berth, I used the 1/32” sheet basswood provided in the kit, and planked over it using 1/32” x 1/16” strips for the siding. I did exaggerate the gaps between the planks though. I did this so the detail of the planking would standout more at a distance, and in an attempt to give it more realism. I used slightly thicker strips for the base boards, and corner trimming. The doors, I made by cutting individual pieces (frame & panel) so they would be built basically the same way as a real door.

In my opinion, the plans show some very good detail for building the deck structures, and the many details that go with them. Just take your time with the structures, as they are a modeling experience all their own. If you enjoy the building part as much as I do, you’ll enjoy this part very much.

Here are some pictures of the hull after painting, and coppering.

Hull Planking:

Planking the hull went a lot smoother than I thought it would. Using narrow basswood strips, cut down in length, made this process a lot easier than using full-length planks. The only full-length plank I used, was the Garboard Strake: (Plank adjacent to the keel.) This was the first plank that I installed. This is the plank that fits into the rabbet along the keel and the lower part of the stem & stern. I left this plank full length for added strength in this area. From the Garboard Strake on up to the Wale: (A heavy layer of strakes below the Sheer Strake) I cut the planks to the length required by the manual. I also followed the shifting pattern, as shown in the manual. This kit (as with most) requires tapering of the planks at the bow & stern. Not quite so much tapering at the stern, this area mostly required some careful shaping in order to get the planks to lay nicely at the connection of the Counter: ( Underside of the portion overhanging the stern.)

The bow area will require tapering. The way that worked for me was to dry fit the plank adjacent to the plank that it will be glued next to. I would start this at Amidships: (in or toward the middle part of a vessel.) and slowly run my fingers along the plank, making sure it was tight with the adjacent plank. It would soon come to a point that it was going to have to overlap. At this point I would mark the point of overlap with a pencil, and from that pencil line I would taper to the end, leaving the ends no smaller than 2 mil wide. I did have a little problem in this area, and had to use some filler to fix it.

The wale on the Morgan is not your typical wale that protrudes outward from all the rest of the planks. This wale is actually part of the lower planks. The planks above the wale are thinner than the lower plank, therefore creating the wale. Then I planked from the wale up to the plank sheer using the thinner planks.

Next came the part of adding the stanchions. I took measurements from the plans for the height of the stanchions and installed them according to the manual, and then I installed the rails. The planks between the plank sheer and the rails are even thinner than the ones between the wale and the plank-sheer, so be careful. Once done it’ll be stronger than it looks.

Also at this time was the inboard planking of the ceiling planks. I ended up doing this twice. The first time I did the ceiling planks, they didn't turn out right, didn't have the curvature that it should have had. So, I sanded them down real thin and got the curvature that I wanted then re-planked over top of it.
 
The manual gives full instructions on how to plank the hull using planking battens and belts, it just isn't the way that I did it. If anything that I write seems a little strange and out of context to the standard rules of ship modeling, then please bear with me, as these writings are based on how I built the Morgan, not on how someone else has or would have built it. I encourage everyone to search the Forum for different ways of proceeding with the various building aspects of ship modeling, as there are many number of ways explained throughout the Forum by many, many modelers.

Great work Nenad as usual.  Don't let the political atmospher get you down.  I  too am going through some "issues" dealing with government, weather, and family health problems and it seems they all go away when I go into the shop and proceed to tie and seize hundreds of blocks and deadeyes I have been working on.  To paraphrase Capt. Aubrey,  the ship is its own wooden word and nothing matters outside its wooden walls.  That is what ship modeling has been for me.  Gee, can't wait till coppering, maybe do that during the next election time or when I get the next insurance "payment denied" notice comes it. 
Scott

When my eyes second time dropped under work desk, She told me that is enough for today
 

I do...

Edwin, strike ended, court season ended, but problems remained and delayed until September. Problems are structural, and cause for strike is collateral consequence of this structural problems.
 
At first, main role of advocacy is not to by your freedom or something - main role of advocacy is to seek and ensure respect for the rules of the legal system. When in one particularly case, you have 3-4 of only 15-30 min lasting court hearings per year, 2-3 of them are delayed from some reason ( judge illness, disorderlly call for parties, and you have, if you have lucky, only one court hearing per year on which something happened in direction to resolve case. So, trials last 3-5-7 years in first instance. Appellation process takes 3-5 years, and rarely finished by meritorious final decision, rather with annulment of whole process and starting over for another 3-5-7 years. And when you finally have meritorious decision, you have to wait 1-2 year for executive process. I am not joking. Oldest court case I have started in 1995. year .... 
 
Consequences are: disastrous weakening of general social discipline (no one goes to court to get his rights, rather chose another way), reduced need for preventive legal services (why, to hell, to pay that if must wait so long for justice), and general vilification and contempt of the legal profession and the need for knowledge of the law. Government do not want to see this, in intend to do what mighty politicians want to do below, under or beside law. And that is real cancer
 
Add to this next statement to get brighter picture: In countries with business tradition, overall public opinion unanimously supports and protects private property, gaining and preservation of property, so did all the courts in that countries. In Serbia, while another countries developed their industry from XVI century until now, there were Turkish occupation, WWI and WWII, socialism ... and only last 20-25 years you can do your own business. Without no respect for the law (what state benevolent watching, especially if you donate a leading political party), there were people who had a very short time acquired wealth. And now everyone thinks it is possible, and the absence of a legal system that allows.
 
Next consequences: drastic impoverishment of the people and the economy, with consequence for honest advocacy which members do not want to get into politic - reducing number of clients who can pay for attorney, even the average price of the court hearing is only 50-100€, attorney working hour about 25-50€ if you are lucky.
 
So, the average year and month attorney incomes reduces from month to month, from year to year, and this year Government raised our taxes to the sky without any economic reason, and opposite to the existing regulations. Attorney Chamber in strike succeed to stop tax rising, but above mentioned problem stayed, and in my opinion, this is heart of problem and main goal for government -  make us ambiance to work and to earn, so this will be good for all
 
But, who listen to me ?

Hello Nenad,Life is sometimes exasperatingly confused and complex,Without making light of the situation in your Country.You seem to weave through the good,the bad and the ugly with an appealing sense of humour and there are no holes in your garden. A documentary of life ,which many of us find interesting,your thoughtful approach to problems is to be admired,my knowledge of Serbia was little but is growing,many thanks. The many hills you have climbed with your Cutty, is bearing the fruits of your labour ,the coppering looks real good ,you must feel proud. hope the strike ends soon.Edwin

Hello Nenad,Life is sometimes exasperatingly confused and complex,Without making light of the situation in your Country.You seem to weave through the good,the bad and the ugly with an appealing sense of humour and there are no holes in your garden. A documentary of life ,which many of us find interesting,your thoughtful approach to problems is to be admired,my knowledge of Serbia was little but is growing,many thanks. The many hills you have climbed with your Cutty, is bearing the fruits of your labour ,the coppering looks real good ,you must feel proud. hope the strike ends soon.Edwin

I was reading an article on building tool storage cabinets.  Mentioned in the article was a good tip on preventing tools from rusting.  Put a camphor tablet in the bottom of the drawer or cabinet.  The camphor produces a vapor that coats the tools and prevents rust.  A side benefit is it keeps bugs away as well.  Walmart used to sell camphor tablets and I know you can order them from Amazon.  One caution.  Keep these tablets away from kids and pets.  If they are eaten they can make a child sick.

Hey everyone!
 
I have done some work on the cleats and rigging details to start the actual rigging. It was harder than expected to get them thinned down, and not breaking them. Having this done means I can now start with the rigging. 
 

 

 

 

 
 
/Matti

Hello Nenad,Life is sometimes exasperatingly confused and complex,Without making light of the situation in your Country.You seem to weave through the good,the bad and the ugly with an appealing sense of humour and there are no holes in your garden. A documentary of life ,which many of us find interesting,your thoughtful approach to problems is to be admired,my knowledge of Serbia was little but is growing,many thanks. The many hills you have climbed with your Cutty, is bearing the fruits of your labour ,the coppering looks real good ,you must feel proud. hope the strike ends soon.Edwin

Does this sound familiar :
 
" ...I think grass need to be cutted, it will rain, so before rain there is right time..."
 
And do you think considering next pictures it was necessary ?
 

 

 
I do not think so
 
But I was running after grass cutter 3 hours on 300C
 
Love makes miracles
 
In new avatar is my happy face in cigarette break on my favorite place in backyard with deepest shadow  
 
Evening spent with my twin brother and his family, and no working on Her except making another 200 pieces of plates

Hi Nenad,
Your plating really is going great!  When you first described how many plates, and how much work I expected you to take so much longer although it probably feels like it is already.
 
Thank you also for your posts about your country and what is happening.  As sad as it reads, it really is so interesting and makes it all so real for us on the other side of the planet.  I have to admit that I enjoy opening your log every time I visit Model Ship World.
 
But I had to laugh as when you wrote ...
 
 
I remember annoying my father so much when I was young that he gave me the job of "go out the back and dig HALF a hole".  It kept me busy for hours and every time I got him to inspect it he told me it was no good as it was a complete hole and I had to start again.  Maybe he was really training me to do coppering? 

Bob is right, book is right, my champ friend Roland is right, I opened my ears wide.
listen, and here is result



When lines of plates started to curve, there was no question about how to go forward

Go, Nenad, go !!!
 

 

 
BTW, today negotiations between Bar association and Government, partially succeed, and we start work tomorrow