Papa

The ship pumps are done! Not too bad for my first scratch built pumps. Once again, totally agree with Chuck P. On his assessment of the pumps provided in the kit. They are awful. The molding is also pretty shoddy, so if you plan to use them, be prepared for a lot of filing!
 
I will say that the furniture provided in the kit is 'useable' but would not impart much warmth. It really is a great feeling to see something which looks more natural. It also makes the appearance of the deck much more authentic!!
 
I consider my pumps and my binnacle to be my two best accomplishments so far. Considering using the kit supplied windlass...need to think about this a bit more...🤔
 
Moving on!  
 
note: the pumps are small!  I really took my time and also took the cowards way out by reinforcing the tiny joints with slow CA to keep the wood for splitting. 
 
 
 
 

So...my nautical knowledge being in its infancy, had to look up what a binnacle was. Still, without seeing firsthand what it was, I was following Chuck's practicum to get the gyst for my own binnacle construction. Funny enough, had dinner last night at Dover Straights (seafood restaurant) and the reception desk had an old binnacle. Had to snap a shot...😊
 
On to pumps. The kit pumps are abysmal so Chuck is bang on the point ... trying to make them is difficult. Quite small but my binnacle construction is giving me newfound hope I might not totally botch the job.
 
Problem I encountered was using tape to simulate the iron banding around the pumps. Simply could not do it...so used thread instead with CA to give it some shine. These pumps are so small I don't think a casual observer should see too much of a difference. Also, the spouts were simply too small for me to manage as a rectangular shape. Simply snipped off the tip of a toothpick and inserted into hole made with a pin vise. Thinking ahead, decided to drill straight through barrel to allow for insertion of a pin once they are ready to be glued to the deck. May not need it, but will have the option once they are ready. A pin will help keep them centered and aligned if I need to adjust them before the glue sets. 
 
Moving on... to watch the Bears game...😁
 
 
 

FYI, I wont be posting over the rest of the month. Mrs and I are taking a trip to Italy to celebrate our 51st wedding anniversary.  We missed out 50th celebration as my wife needed gall bladder surgery.  Good thing we had trip insurance!

Rich you can do it, just take your time and think through it and remember that "God is in the details!"
 
After a few days off hosting an out of town guest I am back at the fore mast rigging. I had to resolve conflicts between pictures of the real ship, the plans and AOTS book on various rigging details. I went with my best guess.
 
One thing I learned was to work from the top down adding the yards and pinning them with 1/32" rod which really helped in rigging. The upper yards were easy but the course yard was a real challenge especially rigging the truss once the yard was in place. I also was making the ropes needed and sanding the kit blocks as needed. The other challenge was routing the lines without interfering with others already in place and look real straight. I also used the plan map for the belaying pin locations versus other sources. 
 
Here are some pictures of the fore mast so far, once all masts are rigged to this point then I will add the brace lines.
 

Here is a close up showing the cleaned up kit blocks.

Here is a view of the biggest challenge rigging the truss with the yard in place.

Starting to get a mess of ropes.

Now on to the main mast now that I know what to watch out for. I am also glad that most of the deck furniture is removable which really helped in tying off the belaying pins.

I finished up all the booms and drilled the ends per the drawings. I moved on to the foot ropes on the yards and decided to use brass jackstays indexed into the yards for a better finished look when completed and they are easier to set the foot ropes with in the end. However, I did have to cut the end loops of the MS0428 to make them smaller. 
After making the ropes I soaked them with 50/50 white glue and water and hung them weighted down to dry and set straight and stiffer than normal rope. This helps with the forming of the curves see in the real ropes. Also when a knot needs to be tied I soaked one inch of the end to soften the rope for tying off. Water can also soften the formed rope for final shaping and will stiffen up again once dry.
Here are some pictures of the results and I know that with handling some abuse may happen, but can be fixed with wetting again.
 

 

 

 

Next I will be adding slings blocks to various yard locations. 
 

So, as I mentioned in the prior post, my drawing process has stalled, and I don't have any good answers as to why, right now, so I've decided to go ahead and begin detailing the lower hull halves.  I will shift my focus back to the drawing, at some point, because I really need a good scale drawing for all of the ornamental work of the stern.  For now, though, the change of pace is welcome.
 
The first thing I wanted to do was to fill in all the butt joints on the wales and the eyelet holes for the chain plates because butt joints would never have sufficed for that application and I'm lowering the channels to the wale strake where these holes currently exist.
 
I'm using Squadron white putty.  Shrinkage seems minimal, it sets and hardens fairly quickly and it works easily with sandpaper, emmory board, or a knife.  For this particular application, though, I have found that maroon abrasive pads do an excellent job of levelling the putty, without completely erasing the moulded, raised grain effect that the putty inevitably covers, upon application.  The grain softens a bit, compared with un-abraded surfaces, but it should still show through the paint without the difference seeming jarring.  If I think it all appears too patchy, under primer, then I'll soften the rest of the grain later.
 

 
Here, you can see a few examples of the filled and leveled butt joints, as well as the simple, reversable jig I made to mark out scribe lines for my new scarf joints.  To cut them, I lightly drag the tip of an Exacto blade (#11 works) backwards, and against the pattern a few times.  Once a faint line is apparent, I use increasing pressure on the backward stroke to engrave the plastic to the width of the blade.  I found it helpfull to establish the vertical stop cuts, first, and then to drag the knife from the stopcut, towards center of the scarf, in each direction.  Once I had a rhythm going, it moved fairly quickly; I averaged one half of a hull half in a session.
 
The next challenge was a little daunting, at first.  I wanted to move the aft-most gun port of the lower battery forward by 3/16", in order to allow a clear space for the full lower finishing of the quarter gallery.
 
To begin, I inserted a new framing member (1/8x1/8" styrene, mostly obscured by the steel ruler) on the inside face, and 3/16" forward of the aft port stile.
 

 
Note:  this is an after the process photo, which also shows the re-located forward port stile; in reality, though, this second new stile doesn't come until later.
 
So, with a new ledge, onto which I can now glue small fitted pieces of sheet styrene, I began to fill-in the aft 3/16", on the outside face of the port.  The first layer of sheet styrene was the same thickness as the interior lip of the stock gun port.  This, I glued flush with the edge of the new aft framing member.  The second layer of sheet styrene was very nearly the thickness of the kit "planking."  The difference was less than a 1/64", which was easily filled with Squadron white, and leveled with a coarse emmory board (which provides some grain texturing) and a knife.  Also at this time, and before applying putty, I built out the missing bit of aft wale section with strip styrene.  I then scribed back-in the missing plank lines:
 

 
On break, I'll continue this post to describe the cutting in and framing of the forward half of the new port, as well as the through-bolting of the wales and the transom knees.
 
 
 

More progress. I've made and fitted the Anchors. These required quite a bit of delicate cutting :


 
The Depth Charge Rack was fairly straight-forward apart from the two small cranes :

 
The Searchlight took me a full day to make, mostly due to the Bracket - gluing it together could only be done one section at a time. The first pic is of the parts needed for it :





 
I also fitted a ladder, the RDF antenna and three railings around the searchlight :


 
The AA Guns and the forward Torpedo Tubes were fitted next :


 
Last I fitted two inclined Ladders and the railing to the aft end of the foredeck. It would have been a lot easier if I had painted the ladders before fitting them :


 
And here's a Progress pic of where I'm up to. The funnel assembly has been permanently fitted :

 
  Danny

Fantastic work.

thanks. Didn't think about pirates

Thanks, Mike. It is a fun model. The kit? Well, it has its good points and its not so good points, like all kits, I imagine. Like ship building, I have found that reading ahead really helps! I am also not such a fan of Britannia castings.... With some effort, filing, cutting, drilling and sanding, then some primer and paint, it can look pretty good. 
 
Continued progress on the front end of the Sopwith. The engine mount is in place along with the rear supports and engine accessories. On many modern planes, this stuff is in front of the firewall with the engine, but not here. Behind the firewall is the carburetor, the magnetos, the starter (manual), and pumps. The brass tubing going out to both sides of the fuselage are air intakes that go right to the carburetor. THAT assembly literally rests right at the pilot's legs, just in front of the control stick. Talking about exposed!... a fuel tank behind you, and the engine right in front....
 
~john
 

Hi BE and Chris, thanks for the kind comments
Ulises : for the record : a pencil code 1 or H will do just fine for the caulking job.
Meanwhile , I took care of the Dolphin striker.
While we're at it : I do not recall that an appropriate block -on which the dolphin striker is attached- was supplied that would allow a perpandicular position of the dolphin striker towards the surface.
As I didn't like it to describe an angle (following the angle of the bowsprit), I succeeded more or less making one  myself.

Hi Folks, running rigging almost completed (dolphin striker and yet lot of trimming to do), lots of pics are to come
But first a few comments :
The process was pretty straight forward according to building instructions but I also relied upon Ray's building log ( Thank you Ray )
For fellow Diana builders : please take a look at drawings 25 and 27 related to the masttops. You may want to fore those holes before fixing them upon the mast and certainly before mounting the yards ( ahem...)
 
I painted the connection pieces for the yard extensions (brackets?) in Vallejo 70.994 dark grey, for a little contrast.
Although I still can,  I did not fix the blocks to secure the topsail yards on the shrouds as I was a bit anxious to avoid any awkward tension on the same shrouds
Furthermore, some rigging is to be fixed on the shrouds just above the upper deadeye ( + cleats) . For the same reason, I wasn't to kean for this so I fixed the rigging on the lower deadeye. It's hardly visisble. This allows to add extra tension on the thread thus to obtain an as straight as possible rigging.
The footrope stirrups are of my own making.
So enjoy part 1 of 3

Nice fix Christian, looks great.   I think I'm going to go and put the seats of ease in, but of course I'm no-where near as far advanced as you.

Hmmm. Just tried to delete in an edit. Didn't work

should I delete the photos?
 

I am finding that putting the bottom plates on is fussy work. Not happy with the first 2. Trying a new technique on plate 3. align and glue the center-line first. Then do the ends and sides.

I followed Danny's advice and inserted some tiny brass "eye bolts" in the deck at the marked points. You can't see them in the photo

Actually, i have made no more progress. Too much going on right now,
 

I am finding that putting the bottom plates on is fussy work. Not happy with the first 2. Trying a new technique on plate 3. align and glue the center-line first. Then do the ends and sides.

Capt Slog, i was also thinking it might just be an extra piece.  All of the pieces on that page are for the lower hull except the one marked 13a.

Capt Slog, i was also thinking it might just be an extra piece.  All of the pieces on that page are for the lower hull except the one marked 13a.

Dan, maybe you can help identify the piece on this page with the bottom plates. It has no number and all the bottom plates 1-8 are present and accounted for.  Also, followed your advice and am putting in some longitudinal braces

Actually, i have made no more progress. Too much going on right now,
 

Actually, i have made no more progress. Too much going on right now,
 

I am finding that putting the bottom plates on is fussy work. Not happy with the first 2. Trying a new technique on plate 3. align and glue the center-line first. Then do the ends and sides.