Papa

I am making progress on the deck furnishings as I smooth the hull of the C W Morgan (which build log will be updated in a few days). The stairway on the engine room, which goes to the yet to be built pilot house, was quite a challenge.

Finished captain’s cabin/galley waiting to be glued into place.

I am making progress on the deck furnishings as I smooth the hull of the C W Morgan (which build log will be updated in a few days). The stairway on the engine room, which goes to the yet to be built pilot house, was quite a challenge.

Finished captain’s cabin/galley waiting to be glued into place.

Starting the deck cabins. I made a half dozen forward cabins before I was happy with result shown here.  The port and starboard walls of the captain’s cabin are shown under construction.

I started this kit a while ago and have postponed starting a build log for no particular reason. I am a professional procrastinator.
This is a very old kit with minimal parts.  A machine carved hull; some blocks of wood for the deck cabins, some strip wood; and various white metal castings. There are 2 sheets of plans. One for the original tow barge and a second set showing the conversion to steam power.
When I took the contents photo I had already started to lay out some reference lines on the deck.
Some observations:
1. I discovered that the blocks for the deck houses were sized totally different from the plans.  I planned to scratch build these anyway
2. The strip wood were of sizes that were way off scale for their required application.
3. The bow shape did not agree with the plans; hence all the plastic wood.
As in all solid hull kits I've seen, the bulwarks are oversized by design and have to be shaved down to the proper thickness.
The kit included scribed sheetwood for the decking but i decided to lay individual planks with 1/32x1/32 stripwood. Initially I varnished the deck and then later decided to paint it deck grey.
After installing the decking one has to cut a bazillion little notches in the bulwarks.
Most recently I test fit her on a walnut base.
At this stage I installed the rudder.  This was a bit of an issue.  The casting included had no resemblance to the rudder in the plans.  Also, the drawing was too small to really understand what the rudder actually looked like.  Thanks to Google, I found an archeology study of some sunken barges of the same period as the CoP that had a good drawing of a typical rudder.  I scratch built a reasonable copy for my CoP.  I also had to scratch build 2 props as these were not provided in the kit. The result is passable, but they are not very visible anyway.
Next step is to start making the deck houses.
Final note: I am building the CoP at the same time as I am planking my Charles W. Morgan.  I need to do something as the glue dries or the planks soak. LOL
 

It took a little while for me to build up these belts to much work and it took about 2 1/2-3 hrs for me to build these four belts but the pit is about to be encase in the fuselage.I want to add that Rabu  of  https://www.radubstore.com/   was very instrumental in working with Revell in the design of the kit and my hat is off to him this kit just falls together he also designed the belts I used and other AM products.I have already built the duct-work behind the pit and installed pretty much SOP.The wing I will show more of it's totally different from ant other P-51 I've built.

I think for the most part I have gone as far as I can without picking up the dreaded paint brush.

Finishing of the hull is now completed. I added filler where required (see previous post) and did some sanding with moderate and then finer sandpaper. I only hand sanded and this seemed to be adequate to give a relatively smooth finish. I used an oil-based varnish with low sheen and this seemed to provide a really good even appearance to the hull. It brings out the natural colour of the mahogany nicely. The lighter colours of some planking is probably not too realistic, but when the wales are fitted, it will not be too obvious as these are black and there are a few of them.
 

The rear galleries required timbers which are positioned around and across the stern. I prepainted these yellow and fitted them where indicated in the instructions and plans. These form the starting points and alignment of the wales and are also the supports for the gallery domes which will have to be made and shaped.

The top yellow deck gunwale has been added and this follows the curvature of the deck. In the image above you can see the wales (black) lying on the base which are to be positioned and attached soon. I have also added some extra enclosing timbers to the stern including the upper cabin portholes/windows. These, like the Captain's Cabin also have the flyscreen glued inside some shaped acetate sheet to give the impression of leadlighting with the LED lights on internally. This gives a good effect at night.

The wales had to be positioned along the sides of the hull at specific offsets from the deck and topsides, so I made up a paper 'ruler' that I used to locate these, as shown below.

Joints in the wales, just like the hull planks are angled to form correct butting of the timbers as on the real Vasa. I have used copper hand-made nails for securing the wales. These nails too I have made for use in the hull timbers, but these will be added later. More on this then. In the image above you can see the internal gun carriages inside the gun ports. You can also seen that for each port, I have added a thin 2mm timber surround for each gun port. Billings supply plastic gun port surrounds which match their plastic gun port doors, but I don't much like these because:

1. The sizes don't match the two different gun port sizes from the upper gun and lower gun decks and
2. I don't think that they look as good as natural wood.

The final wales added to the hull are shown below. I pre-painted them (for obvious reasons) before attaching. Actually, it was not paint, but a black stain called 'Japan Black'. Two coats of this seemed to do a great jot and gave a good natural grain texture left without a smooth finish from paint. Some touch-up will be required when all wales are attached, but that should be a simple job.
 

The wales as they are added along the hull in the picture above. The nailheads I have used are exposed and will need painting. Three more wales to go below those there already and down to the waterline. Below the extra wales are in place. Some touch-up of stain is required.

In the above photo of the hull to the stern, you can see how the wales align with the galley timbers. The galleries take the majority of the figures and sculptures and this is a major job ahead, so they need to line up accurately. Yo can also see at the base of the hull, near the stern, the wiring that leads to a plug for powering the LED internal lights.

Another shot of the wales below and the wrapping around the bow which required some extra support for the glue (pins and push pins unfortunately). Also, at the bow of the ship, there is a second layer of planking on the real Vasa (probably to make her a bit smoother in the bow cut as she moved through the water). These timbers were also probably to protect the bow as the anchor is lowered and raised - Clever thinking seamen in those days. These extend from bowsprit extension to just below the anchor line.

On the real Vasa, you can just see these timbers in the Museum in Stockholm (see below).

In the real ship, you can also see the position of the deck extension that is used to lower/support the anchor. This lines up with these timbers of extra planking. The real ship does not have the coloured wales (eg stained black), but research by the museum staff indicates many of the colours used on the ship back in the 1620's. This especially applies to the over 200 figures and sculptures that adorn this ship. This will be a major exercise to paint etc, but I am looking forward to it.

Time elapsed - 490 hours.

Peter G.
 

Many thanks Retired Guy and Johnathon. Encouragement at this stage which is a bit tedious, is great!!
Continuing on with the planking. Planking, planking and more planking....

The bow of Vasa is quite rounded and bluff and so some severe bending and shaping is required. The picture below shows the slow progress beneath the first decking level of cannon ports towards the keel.

For the bending and plank shaping I have found the following procedure most effective using mahogany 1.0mm planking timber.

1. I pre-form the plank to the right width and chamfer where required. If a join is used (which is on most planks, the diagonal offset is cut and shaped for the next plank along.
2. When happy with the shape and fit, to the 'lining' width defined for each bulkhead, the plank is inserted into a long tube and boiling water added so the entire plank is immersed. I leave this for 3-4 minutes.
3. I take out the plank and then I have a jig made out of 2 x 4' (50 x 100mm) timber that has on its thin edge, a semi-circle of reducing radius cut. This shape allows me to bend the plank into the timber until the correct curvature is obtained. Actually, I usually over-bend the plank so any 'spring-back' approximates what I require.
4. For parts of the plank that require excessive bend (such as the bow, I also use a heated round electric soldering iron to push the plank down into the space of my timber shape. With the water in the plank, there is no burning, but a little steam is created which helps the bend.
5. The plank is then quickly migrated to the hull where pre-gluing has been added (using white PVA glue), and the plank placed into position. The plank is held by preferred paper clips (as shown in picture of previous post), or by push pins into the bulkhead.

In the picture above, planking has progressed to be just below the second decking of cannon ports, which have been positioned and cut. Note in the first deck level below the topsides, you can just see the 'false' cannon carriages and individual decks to mount the below top deck cannon barrels. This was tedious work but so long as it is done as planking progresses down the hull, it is not a time consuming task. Above the planking is the topsides plywood. Billing Boats use this as a base material which on the real Vasa, has a series of clinker planked, thinner timbers to be mounted. This will be done after hull planking is completed.

AT LAST, I am coming to the final plank. Below is the last plank to be fitted and the glue is in place. Additional plank support is required at the bow of the hull with pins placed to ensure there is no movement as the glue dries.

The planking is tight and has only a few gaps where filler will have to be used to remove the hull plank gaps/openings. The shape of the hull is good and Billings have done a good job of the bulkhead shapes and positions to replicate the ships scaled shape. The finished bow below shows the curvature of the planks here. There is some opening and gaps between the planks but it is reasonably minimal and will take filler satisfactorily. I have used a minimal number of stealers and overall the planking has gone well despite being only a single planking designed by Billing's.

In the image above, the bow looks slightly skewed, but the photo has not been taken directly head-on. When you look at it with the eye, both sides of the hull are symmetrical and it looks fine. Some mahogany timber imperfections that are apparent can be seen, but these will sand flat and with painting/varnishing, the finish should be good. At the stern end of the hull, the planking does not require such tight bending and so the planks are tighter and fewer gaps are present.

Planking is now complete!!!

Finishing will involve some minor filling of evident gaps. The filler I am using is a dark mahogany commercial wood filler and it appears too dark with some of the lighter coloured mahogany planks, so in the cases, I have sanded some light coloured planks to create a pile of mahogany sand/dust. I then added PVA white glue which dries clear and then used this as a filler. It works well and when varnished should almost not be visible.

Next post will have the progress on the finishing of the planking.

Oh, yeah - I have been trying to assess the times taken in the build to give an estimate of our build times. My estimates to date are:

60 hours Kit, background, planning etc
50 hours Bulkhead placement, shaping and keel
80 hours Decking, shape and ribbing
250 hours Planking, shaping, fitting and gun ports

Total to date, about 440 hours. Its really hard to do these estimates, as we all get to be distracted by other tasks on the ship, have other commitments (eg family, work, etc. etc. and so a few hours hear and there mount up very quickly. These figures are a guide only and are NOT accurate, but probably not far off. It comes as a bit of a shock as to how much time these models can take!!! However, to do a good job, it does take time - but, isn't that the point of the modelling exercise!!

More soon.

Regards,
PeterG.

The planking (my fears are always with this stage!!!) has now commenced in earnest!!!

I started the planking from the topsides towards the keel. The upper most section was not too bad as the curvature shape at the bow and stern were relatively mild and so the mahogany strip timber with soaking in hot water for a few minutes, seemed to bend without too much trouble. Shaping of each plank was done initially, according to the width marks on the hull, and after a few planks were added, it started to progress quite well.

It then became time to allow for the gun ports. On the Vasa, beneath the weather deck guns, are two additional levels. How to position these? On the Billing Boat kit, is supplied a series (86 I think), plastic 'inserts' for the gunports and within these are the 'half' cannons supplied in brass. These cannon barrels are a stub, false cannon designed to push fit into timber within the cannon locations behind the ports. No information is provided in the instructions as to how to fit these. Well, I was not happy about the plastic cannon port surrounds, and I realised I would have to construct some internal mounting and simulated gun carriages for the brass below-deck cannon barrels.

The picture below indicates how I located the positions of the various cannon ports. From the instruction plans of the hull, I created an overlay of some clear plastic and used some fixed points (such as the weather deck upper cannon ports and breaks in the deck line to locate the overlay on the outside of the partially planked hull. I used masking tape to fix the overlay to the upper parts of the ship so I could roll it on and off the hull planking for marking the port positions for cutting out. At this stage the planking was down to about the first level of below-deck cannon ports (6 planks in the picture below.

With the cannon ports drawn on the hull planking, I then used a piece of bent steel (actually roofing material called Colourbond in Australia), which I had punched out the precise size for the cannon ports. I then drilled around the perimeter of the ports and cut out with a sharp knife and then filed square. These came out quite well and in the correct locations.

Where a bulkhead was encountered as I removed the port plank section, I also had to cut some bulkhead timber to allow for the cannon support timber to be positioned. These timbers involved making a 'floor' for the deck, gluing between the adjacent bulkheads and then inserting a false gun carriage to support the false cannon barrel. Each gun carriage was painted and inserted and glued into position. From the outside it looks OK and provides the support for the guns well.

As the planking progressed, the gunports were eventually completed and it formed a good solid hull. I had to be careful with the planking as there is only a single planking used by Billings. while this is alright, it leaves little room for error if a mistake is made. Below is a picture of the planking on the starboard side with most of the gunports cut out.

Similarly on the port side. You will note that there is quite a lot of variation in the mahogany planking colour along the hull. I tried to position planking and plank selection randomly but it has occurred that the lighter coloured sections appear where the gunports are. This was not by design as the gunport locations do not follow the line of the plank edges anyway. Nevertheless the finish I think will look OK when painted. I am not intending to use a stain, as I quite like the look of the mahogany anyway. The side gunwales still to be added will also be in black and these will add contrast that should look good. If necessary, I can also stain later when I see the overall hull's finished planking.

For all planking I am using PVA white glue and then after each plank is attached I, go over the bulkhead-plank joints on the inside (where and while I can still access them), and add additional glue. At this stage I have used no nails, only glue and pressure for bending, plus I am pleased that as the planking proceeds, no stealers to fill gaps have been required.

More soon...

Peter G.

Further work on the stern area before laying out of the planking. The picture below shows the rear Captain's Cabin windows (with internal lead-light hatching), plus the completed but untrimmed rear planking.
Using the dockyard base, I inverted the hull and laid out the planking for each bulkhead. This laying out follows the procedure outlined by a number of video and documents where the hull bulkhead lengths are measured, divided by the number of required planks, and then each bulkhead is measured and marked for the individual plank width. The planks are then shaped with the appropriate widths and fitted accordingly. A really good description of this technique is available from a search of 'lining off your hull for planking'. On the Vasa, the picture below shows how I lined it off. In the end I had no stealers and the planking went well, which I attribute to the marking and preparation.

Note in the lining off above, the distances measured are between a top and bottom, keel planks already mounted and fixed.

I used modified paper clamps to hold my planking onto the bulkheads during gluing. These worked well and I felt better than some of the commercially available clamps. The only problem with these comes late in the planking when the space available for them against the bulkhead becomes reduced.
 
More later....

Deck is stained and the completed cabin is temporarily fitted in place to see how everything looks.  On to the bowsprit, toe rails, and cabin molding.  Looking pretty good I think for a first timer wooden boat modeler.  Many skills and lessons learned gathered in other modeling hobbies definitely transfer to this hobby.

I think I've worked out why it's taken Stephan a couple of years to get a little bit past this stage - the wheels  . One wheel took me 12 hours to make - 17 more to go. At this stage I'm only making one large and one small wheel, as I need to check a few measurements before continuing on with the brake assemblies, and my laser-cut frames and wheels are still on the way from Poland.
 
The parts for one of the driving wheels. Nearly every part needed to be laminated to 1mm thick card. I'd ordered 10 sheets of 0.5mm and 10 of 1mm card from GPM two weeks ago, it arrived yesterday (pretty good for them). This card is MUCH easier to cut than the far denser card I'd bought from Officeworks :

One wheel finished :


You may notice that I'd scraped the gluing surface of one of the red discs. Most of the red parts have a coating on them, probably clear lacquer, which doesn't glue very well.
 
Danny

The rear bogie is much more complex. There's about a week of work involved in this. Once again a lot of rivets. I used the laser-cut ones for this, as cutting about 200 1mm diameter rivets was not an option. I pre-painted them before cutting them off the sheet. They were supplied in black, a thin coat of grey spray primer was applied first followed by artist's acrylics vermillion straight from the tube which was a very good match :


 
Aligning each part was critical to the outcome. I used 2mm and 3mm tubing wherever I could to ensure that :

 
The parts for the brake/suspension assembly frames :

 
Fitting the brake/suspension frames to the main bogie frame :



 
The completed rear bogie :



 
Danny

Here we are ......
 

During the week, I finally saw the light..
 

liked the wood color contrast. Since those are tropical woods, I had no idea how they would look like, after the danish oil. I really liked it.

NOTE: The keel is in tropical mahogany which is more light and the hull is in tolua   Last edited: 23 minutes ago    

Evening, 
Thought I would update. 
 
A lot of painting going on recently.
Thought I would focus on the Anchors while other things dry. 

A while back I decided to use wood for the anchors. 
The metal ones from the kit can be used, but I just didn't like the look. 

Anchors were primed, the wood was stained. 
I kept the stain the same color as the deck furniture and Catheads.
Its called "Early American" and is just a tick darker then the stain used on the deck.
Hopefully provide a pleasing contrast. 

Starting to come together. 

I've seen this trick else where.
Used card stock for the straps on the wood. 
Wouldn't even call it "card stock".....I took a chunk from a manila folder. 
They were "painted" black with a Sharpie. 

A tiny smear of CA glue and they easily attached. 
I was surprised to see little to no soak thru from the CA glue.

Each strip was slowly worked around then trimmed where they met. 

The Sharpie black works really well with the stain of the wood. 
I'm really happy with the way the "card stock" trick worked. This was my first attempt at using it. 

There not quite finished, but below you can start to see where I'm going with them. 
They need to be attached, then a ring for the top.
I've seen others wrap the wire ring with rope. I plan on doing the same, it's a nice touch.
What's a good gauge wire for the ring?

Long holiday weekend coming up, and I have absolutely no plans.
I see the normal chores getting done early, and some serious time in the Shipyard!
 
Tom E 
 
 

I love the dog on your avatar pic.  😀.  Name?

learned a new feature on GIMP not glues yet just fitted and I like Revells carriage kind of reminds me WingNuts build.

Just how much does Kevin like P-51's these are all recon crates love these all 1/48 and Tamy with AM decals and my 1/32 Hase P-47 "Lil Ceasar"

I have now completed installing the Thwart Risers, adjacent ceiling pieces and beams for the stem and stern sheets.  The Thwart Risers and Ceilings will be painted so I have chosen not to use nail fasteners. The outer strakes will also be painted. 
 
 Next will be the Centerboard Trunk and Mast Step. 

Strakes #’s 2, 3 and 4 were glued into place using CA glue.  In order to keep the glue off the molds, waxed paper was slipped between the strakes and molds. The battens were glued to the strakes with PVA prior to placement. 
 
Strake #5 is shown below clamped to the provided clove piece for shaping prior to gluing.  So far, no real problems have occurred. 😎

The second laminate layers were assembled and glued. 
The upper and lower keels were positioned and glued to the laminate layers at the stem and stern.Next, the keel lips and laminate bevels were smoothed at the kerf joints. Then the garboards were beveled on the upper outboard edge, soaked in 50/50 alcohol/water, fitted to the molds and keels, allowed to dry and glued in place using medium and super thin CA glue. 

Butterfly Keel and stringers, to keep the shape I had to use planking pins to hold the in place, then removed when set.

Planking is progressing nicely.