edmay

Hello all...
 
here is a little update. I have planked the bulkhead of the cabin and I made the doors and windows. This was the first time for me to work with wood on such difficult and small parts. I have now much more respect of all of you who do such work with extreme accuracy.
 
It was right to move the planking of the cabin and the work on the doors to this point. I am sure when you go along with the plan you will drive crazy with this work. After the Planks are in place and much more stuff is already fixed on the deck there is so less space to work proper. So I only can recommend - to such of you who are not experts - to read the plans exactly before starting to build. You will find ways to get along with the model in much more calm and satisfying ways. I stained the Planks of the cabin with oak and think it has a nice Color now. Now I can continue with the first planking.
 
Cheerio
 
Max
 

Next I will work on changing the bilge pumps. Here is what the instructions show & how they look on the ship. They look horrible. Will fabricate some that look more like the real thing........when & as I am able......
 
 

Forming the bell will not be easy at this small of a scale. I found this soft metal tubing in all my old modeling junk that gets saved up for years. Wedged a metal pick in one end & slowly wringed it around flaring it out. Cut it off & burnished the top down to form it correctly....

First I notched the pinrail & stanchion to move the stanchion in closer to the cogged wheel to add a pawl. Next will begin fabricating a bell like one of the illustrations above show.
 

A third thought (jeez, I'm full of them today ).
 
What's the hardest part about Rigging? GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT.
 
By which I mean things like:
 
1. Tying Blocks to a line or eyebolt.
 
2. Doing Seizings.
 
3. Belaying a line to a Pin.
 
4. Threading line through a Block or Deadeye (use a Needle Threader   ).
 
5. Tying Ratlines (easy when you know how).
 
6. Getting a Footrope to hang "naturally".
 
7. Shaping Masts and Yards.
 
There are a few more that don't spring immediately to mind, but you get the picture. Buy yourself a few GOOD QUALITY Blocks, some GOOD QUALITY Rigging Line and some Fly-tying line and PRACTICE the basics. Use the Tips readily available in the Masting, Rigging and Sails section of MSW to get the idea of how to do each bit. Same with the Masts. Ask questions on specific details if you can't find the relevant info in the forum.
 
Once you have a good idea of all the above, start on one of your models. Some may look very complex, but that's only because there more lines to rig - everything else is basically the same.
 
  Danny

.... continued.
 
I've glued veneer to the forward and aft curved sections to all the decks in similar fashion to the previous one.
 
The straight sections of the edge strips were a lot easier - 2mm x 3mm walnut did the job perfectly. I used masking tape to "clamp" them whilst they dried. This whole step should have been done before the deck was fitted by "old mate" - it was considerably harder to do with the already fitted deck :
 

 

 
To cut the 142 pieces of planking for the 3rd deck cabin I used my Chopper :
 

 

 
The cabin after gluing on all the planking strips with PVA :
 

 
And after sanding smooth :
 

 
  Danny

The 3rd deck cabin gets it's re-enforcing blocks :
 

 
Halfway through planking the 3rd deck :
 

 
Joins were used in a 3-butt shift pattern :
 

 
To bend the ply around the aft end of the Ventilating Chamber I made some saw cuts halfway through and once again used masking tape to hold the piece in position for gluing :
 

 

 
Next I cut out the spaces for the ventilators with a sharp Xacto :
 

 
Then I glued the sides and bottoms of the frames into the edges of the spaces :
 

 
  Danny

Yeah, just great Edwin. The docs are very happy with the way my treatment's going - I'll be around for a lot of years yet . Thanks Frank, you are SO right .
 
Moving right along, I pulled out all the windows and doors on the 2nd deck cabin. This was very easy - just slip a flat knife blade under them and give it a twist and they all popped out. I'm not sure what type glue he used, but I suspect it may have been PVA, which doesn't bond metal to wood very well in most cases.
 
I don't know what he was thinking when he recessed the windows into the planking (perhaps he glued the windows on first and tried to plank around them), but it made my job a lot more difficult than if he'd planked the whole cabin and then glued the windows to the planking. Much trimming and replacing of missing or short strips was needed.
 
The easiest way to fix the gaps at the bottom was to fit a skirting board. There was no walnut veneer left in the box, so I made do with the only stuff I had on hand - some VERY VERY poor quality Sapelli left over from the "Victory" kit. I had to cut 1.5mm wide strips out of the middle of this stuff using a sharp Xacto and a steel rule :
 

 

 

 

 
The 2nd deck cabin after replacing missing planks, sanding and windows refitted :
 

 
The next problem I found belongs to AL - the 3rd deck was too short by about 10mm. From memory, I think I had the same problem with the "Mississippi" I'd built about 30 years ago (these two kits were about the same vintage). To fix the problem I simply glued a piece of scrap ply to the aft end :
 

 
Next job was to glue a strip of ply around the Ventilating Chamber of the 3rd deck cabin. I used PVA and held the piece in place with masking tape until it dried. Then I did the other side :
 

 
More follows ....

Ulises,
 
Do you have a connection to "Pandora's Box", you sure opened one.? I thought that I would spend a few minutes here, but got totally involved in the back and forth well worded and thoughtful diplomatic posts. Very enlightening thread. 
 
PS: PayPal is awesome IMO. I can't remember the last time that I actually wrote a check. Love electronic banking as well IMO.
 
MIchael

Hello all, In my experience one cap will not suit all,misunderstanding's spoil many relationships,Reflect and rectifying is a two way street,but sometimes the shoe will never fit.  I also have ordered many PVC tubes of milled woods using paypal from Wayne Cantin, with fast and courteous service .Edwin

Hi All
 
I am still sorting this cobwebb out called rigging rope ,
 
But getting the hang of it ( I think ).
 
Denis.

Edwin....cool bell indeed. Little things like that is what makes this crazy hobby fun to me. Next build? For now all I can think of is being another day closer to those dastardly rat lines.... clove hitch - clove hitch - clove hitch - clove hitch - clove hitch - clove hitch - clove hitch - clove hitch - clove hitch - clove hitch - clove hitch -
Etc.....

More deck trim.... Note water pump....just because I enjoy building them (builders prerogative)

Deck railing now added....also added the two small ports near the stern.

Adding railing stanchions.  Getting each the exact same height being the promary challenge here.

Getting the complex geometric three color paint scheme within reason has been a major challenge. Not going to say how many times I ripped it off and started over. That's modeling, huh?

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Now forming the strip of brass that will hold the bell & attach to the stanchion. Then used very thin wire to form in one piece a loop holing the bell on, the handle & the ...um....ringer? -for the life of me I can't remember what you call that thing! . I also added a short cord hanging off the handle for pulling. The picture doesn't show it well but it's there.
 
I plan on making some handspikes to go with it later. Gotta watch it- already trying to use the hand too much too soon
 

Next my focus has been on the windlass.  The kit has the windlass constructed wrong. It doesn't have a pawl for the cogged wheel at all. Here is the kit instructions & how I built it. Then Some illustrations I found online on how they should be. I will take from both these illustrations to rebuild my windlass a little more correctly.
 

This forced time off has made me see that I was in too big of a hurry. Been studying up on a lot of things. I now see that the kit doesn't have things look or built correctly for how it really functioned. I have decided to change some things. Now my impatience kicks in again. My hand is still bandaged up & I don't have much mobility with it. I am not supposed to be doing this kind of stuff yet but I am already feeling some of the benefits of the surgery & have been sneaking in some work a little at a time.
 
The first thing I've done is change a standing barrel to how a scuttlebutt might have been.
 
 
 

And time comes finally to go down ( in workshop) to go up with my build
 
Light analyzing pictures and drawings, and I can conclude that there are/will be  a lot of Hmmmm things
 
For instance
 
These two pictures
 
"Old" Cutty`s rudder - pay attention to places when red arrows direct
 

 
and "new" rudder
 

 
It seems that in old pictures / old "Cutty", rudder was thinner than a stern post ???????
 
if it is correct, there is a time for decision - and I decide - same height
 
As I see, there will be more questions like that, but, step by step forward
 
I started tonight with experiments and playing a while
 
First, making a rudder - first attempt
 

 

 
Made of three layer of 2 mm strips to get over 5mm height, as stern post on Her Majesty is. In this place I concluded that long ago, when i was making second layer of planks, I missed to assume strictly parallel lines of stern post to "extend" to parallel lines of rudder, and it maybe must be corrected. I ll see when rudder will be done how it fits with "coopering" and another stuff
 
I am not satisfied with result, so rudder will be reworked at all
 
But it will be usable for further experiments ( straps, coopering, entrance in rudder hole, shape of upper part of ruder, etc etc ...)
 
Then starting to play with solder iron, which was tonight pretty friendly to me, trying to make pintle holders (?) , e.g. straps with pintles (?) 
 
First attempt with coca cola can . It do not work - so soft and weak, and I do not know to solder aluminium. Never late to learn, after a hour of trying and after 100 m of soldering wire melted
 
 
 

 
Then I found some thin cooper tape, and this is much better
 

 
And testing, AND IT WORKS !!!! 
 

 

 
Almost happy with results, and closed workshop for today
 
 
 
 
 

Hi Captain Steve
 
Thank you.
I cannot wait to finish her.
 
Next build is the Royal William that my wife gave me as a birthday present but only opened it a week ago.
 
Again thank you Sir.
 
Denis.