AnobiumPunctatum

Again, thank you for the kind compliments. 'Precision' is merely taking sufficient time and care, plus accurate marking out. These come from experience; you know, the 10,000 hour thing.
 
The aft platform has been made, painted and installed. The next challenge is covering the compound curved surface above this platform up to the height of the topside.

To begin making the carriages,  I first removed the laser char from the mini-kit pieces.  Even just making the four remaining carriages for the port side takes considerable time.  I used a sanding stick and there are many pieces.  
 
In addition,  the outside ends of the axles were rounding off and all of the pieces were painted red ahead of time.  
 
Finally I decided to make a small jig to make assembly easier.   You can see it in the photos and its simple to make.
 
Step one was placing the axles into the jig.
 
Then the two pieces ....the transom was added atop the front axle and another strip was added across the rear axle.  Note how the front axle is shorter than the rear axle.
 

 
Step two was when I added the sides (brackets) to the carriage while they were in the jig.   The carriage was removed and a length of 24 gauge black wire was pushed through the holes in the sides of the bracket.  The carriage bed will sit on top of this eventually.  The wire is snipped off so each end stands a little proud of the surface.  
 
To finish of step two the wheels (trucks) were put into position.
 
  
 
Now to finish these four carriages off....the next steps will be shown soon.
 
Chuck

Wonderful model and a really nice website

Wonderful model and a really nice website

Very nice work, Paul. It's allways fun to have a look in your log and follow your progress.

Very nice work, Paul. It's allways fun to have a look in your log and follow your progress.

Very nice work, Paul. It's allways fun to have a look in your log and follow your progress.

Very nice work, Paul. It's allways fun to have a look in your log and follow your progress.

Continuation.
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
The beginning of the relation is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Paul

Continuation.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
The beginning of the relation is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Paul

Time for a small update. The cabin floor was made in the same way as that for the forward section of the footwaling. In this case the wood was left 'bright' and the joints slightly enhanced using pencil lead. The finish was dilute sanding sealer. The footwaling aft of the cabin will be installed at a higher level, with a small scuttle for access. Some pattern-making will first be required, though.

Thanks guys 
 
Greg,  that is a great place to start.  First the guns were airbrushed black using Badger Airbrush paint.   But just going with straight black is not good enough.  The guns and other metalwork needs to be different in appearance / texture than the wood elements painted black.  If for nothing else but to add some more interest.  Straight black is to harsh and leaves a lot to be desired.
 
You can go with a warm hue or a cool hue.  I decided on the warmer.  I then brushed on very sparingly some weathering powder.  The goal here isnt to make it look like a rusty heap.  Its just to change the surface appearance.  As quickly as it was applied with a soft brush it was buffed off almost entirely with the same soft brush.  It changes the color only slightly BUT it does also change the surface texture making it noticeably different than other black painted parts.  I use this technique on all of the "metal" parts on the model even if they arent made from metal.  It works quite well.  For the guns it really makes the reinforcing rings stand out as well as the other details.   But remember you have to buff it off.
 
Now I am not using these weathering powders for anything else....I have no intention of making the model look weathered.  In most cases where I see folks weathering .....it is over done and everything looks like a junk ship rusting out.  Its just too much.  But if used sparingly it can be very effective.  Just my opinion of course.
 
I use the MicraMark weathering powders and the set contains a small jar of Rusty brown and if you are going cooler you could use Grimy Gray or even a dark  blue.  All of the guns are completed with this technique below and waiting to be mounted on their carriages.   I store them like this until needed.   Now to build those carriages!!!
 

 

 
The same technique was used on the chainplates.  You can see how the powder makes the Black noticeably different than the painted wales.   Before the application it looked exactly the same.    Now its different but very subtle.  The key is NOT to over do it and get carried away.  
 

Time for a progress photo. It shows a 'stand-in' footwaling piece positioned so that the first pre-painted board is correctly placed. The pre-painted strips, 10" wide and ⅝" thick are also shown in this photo.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 149 – Ship’s Boats 5
 
As longboat 1 was reaching completion, work progressed on #2.  In the first picture the port side is being planked.
 

 
The starboard side will be left unplanked, in frame.  At this size I am not able to layout the planking strakes or even use a planking gauge as described in earlier posts and in the posts on the POB model.  Instead, I install a full-width plank then trim its edges by eye so the planking lines will be fair and the last plank will just fit below the wale.  The next picture shows the first step in that trimming of an installed plank.
 

 
A paring chisel is being used to taper the plank.  This is followed by final fairing of the plank with a barette file as shown in the next picture.
 

 
Both these pictures show the half frames installed on the deadwood on the opposite side.  All the frames on that side will be left exposed.  The last picture shows the last plank below the wale being glued to the frames on the port side.
 

 
The boat is now ready for removal from the plug for final internal work.  In the next picture that has been done and the keelson is being glued to the frame floors.
 

 
In the next picture one of the bilge ceiling members is being glued to the frames.
 

 
The next picture shows the panel of grating below the stern seats and the supporting clamp for the seats on the near side. 
 

 
This will be the view of the framing and internals of this boat when it is mounted on the skid beams.  The open pear framing has been given an initial cleanup but more work is needed to remove glue remnants and polish up the woodwork.  Still to be added are seats and the mast step.  At this stage the port side of the boat was ready for painting.
 
The next picture shows both longboats positioned on the skid beams.
 

 
Only some minor work remains to be done on these before they can be tied down.  In the meantime work has been progressing on the first of the two cutters.
 
Ed

Today I finished up the bulwark details.  All of the cleats and the pinrails have been added.  I also made the catheads.  These warrant special note.  These were made in two pieces.  They were shaped from a 3/16" x 3/16" strip.  Care was taken to shape the inboard leg of the cathead to fit snug against the bulwarks.  It had to be shaped to fit around the waterway and spirketting.   The top portion had its two sheaves simulated in the usual manner.   
 

 
The cap rail was then notched out to accept the cathead and the two sections of the catheads were fit together ahead of time.   After the notched cap rail was ready...the two parts were tweaked until they fit well.  Only then were they glued together and painted.
 

 

 
Hopefully sometime this week I will begin putting the gun carriages together or maybe make the belaying pins.  I dont need that many belaying pins for this model so why not make them from scratch as well.
 
Chuck
 
 

And we start (again)
 

 
Saturday 27 Feb 2016
Ripped a couple pieces of castello boxwood to about 20" (1:64) on the table saw then milled down to 18"
Sliced of strips from it to about 20" and then milled them to 18" square.
 
This is the stock material for the 4 keel pieces
The foremost section of the keel with the boxing scarph joint for the lower stem post needed to have the strip cut made wider, about 40", as it stands taller forward than aft.
 
Using a longer piece than necessary, using a sharp soft (HB) pencil lead, I marked of the length, depth and angle of the scarph on the top side of the stern most keel section.  The depth of the scarph joint was carefully cut on the scroll saw and using a freshly sharpened chisel I attempted to cut it out in very small slices.  I seem to have a huge problem keeping my chisel perpendicular to the stock to get a clean square cut.
 
To remedy this... until I master my chiselling skills... I cut off the bad scarph joint (scrap) and remarked the stock.  I clamped it on the line on my flat faced woodworking vise.  Using a fine toothed saw I cut the depth perpendicular to the stock.  Using the same saw I cut the length somewhat parallel to the surface of the vise.  Using my chisel I cleaned it up and then sanded.  I repeated this on the mating piece and this resulted in a good joint.  I did not invent this method... I saw it somewhere in a build log on the forum. Thank you!
 

 
Sunday 28 Feb 2016
I used this same method to cut down the 40" height of the foremost keel section aft of the boxing scarph joint to 18".  The scarph joint shape was transfer to the stock using carbon paper.  The carbon paper was place on top of transparent (see through) graph paper.  The carbon side faced up to the graph paper.  My template was placed over top of the graph paper.  I traced the outlined of the scarph joint shape with my pencil which transferred it to the underside of the graph paper.   The transparent paper was placed on the stock and the carbon line (on the underside against the stock) was traced once again with my pencil resulting in the line being transferred to the stock.  This is much more work than cutting and gluing but I am trying to preserve my templates (and eliminate any need to spend more money on another copy)
 
This shape was roughly cut out on the scroll saw and then cleaned up with a drum sander attached to the drill press.  The boxing scarph joint has yet to be cut.
 

 

 
The stern post mortise hole was drilled out and cleaned up as best as I can manage for now.
 

 
Black crepe paper (representing the waterproofing tar soaked felt) was cut oversize and glued to one outer set of joints (toe/heel).  When this dried the two pieces were glued and clamped.  This paper has yet to be trimmed back to the keel surface.
 

 

 

Dan,
 
as allways, very clean and crisp work. I like your idea with the cut outs and think that I will copy this, if I build a section.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 148 – Ship’s Boats 4
 
The last picture in Part 147 showed the top plank being glued on to longboat 1 with the channel wale inserted to provide a space for its later installation.  In the first picture the wale has been removed.
 

 
The frames may now be cut down to the top of the side and the boat removed from the plug.  The next picture shows the keelson being glued to the tops of the frame floors.
 

 
The longboats were pretty heavily constructed.  They were working boats that carried supplies or cargo and sometimes even an anchor. Ceiling stringers at the turn of the bilge can be seen in this picture as well as clamps to support the seats.  In the next picture a clamp at the wale height is being glued in after installation of the seats. 
 

 
I tried not to fuss too much with this interior work because the boats will be fixed to the skid beams inverted roughly in the position shown in the next picture.
 

 
The 25’ cutters were secured just outside of the longboats. I expect to tie down spare spars and lower studding sail booms between the longboats.  In this picture the outer planking of longboat 1 has been given a coat of white shellac as a sealer and that has been sanded smooth.  There will be a second shellac seal coat and sanding before the final white gloss acrylic finish.  The channel wales will be the same blue as the cabin roof.
 
All the pin rails visible in this picture have been fitted with their pins.  The blue masking tape was applied to stop the dropping of belaying pins into the hold.  In the next picture both the boat and the two wales have been painted and are ready for final assembly.
 

 
The last picture shows the boat placed on the skid beams.
 

 
Rudder hinges are still required.  Boats were also required to have the ship’s name lettered on the transom and bow.  This may be more than I can manage, but we’ll see.
 
Before mounting the boats I need to check for rigging clearance between the outer boats and the pin rail.  I believe all the lines that belay in the way of the boats go through shroud fairleads so there should be no problem, but it is worth a check.  It may be best to avoid securing these boats until rigging has been belayed below the boats.
 
Ed

Fantastic work,  Ed. I am speechless

Dan,
 
as allways, very clean and crisp work. I like your idea with the cut outs and think that I will copy this, if I build a section.

Dan,
 
as allways, very clean and crisp work. I like your idea with the cut outs and think that I will copy this, if I build a section.

Dan,
 
as allways, very clean and crisp work. I like your idea with the cut outs and think that I will copy this, if I build a section.

You may have noticed in the previous post that I've also done the Upper Well. This is a fairly tricky assembly to get right.
 
First I temporarily fitted the two upper deck beams above the well, then I cut and rebated the five well stanchions. When these were all adjusted for a good fit I cut the rebates for the louvres at a 30 degree angle on the table saw :
 

 
After cutting the louvres (which are 0.8mm thick by 3.18mm wide) I glued one at the top and one at the bottom between two stanchions in situ :
 

 
Then I glued in the rest of the louvres off the ship - they all fitted very well. Some pics of all the louvres fitted and the well in position (not glued in yet) :
 

 

 
There is an access door in the forward Starboard corner. I glued several thin strips to a flat piece of stock for the framing, and added a handle and hinges from the PE set :
 

 
The door fitted :
 

 

 
  Danny

I've finished the lower deck planking, and also the two strakes of Spirketting below the Upper Deck Clamp. Some cleaning up and a coat of finish still need to be done, but I'm leaving that until after the knees are fitted :
 

 

 
  Danny

Thanks all for the kind words, and thanks again Greg for the extra PE pieces - they made work a fair bit easier .
 
Sorry about the length of time between updates, but I had computer issues (AGAIN - gotta get a new one ) .
 
It's time to make the Main Mast, or a stump thereof anyway. I tapered and rounded it in similar fashion to the masts and yards on the full model - first marking the tapers, then sanding them to shape on the disc sander, remarking the edges of the octagons using the 7-10-7 method, cutting the octagons with a sharp chisel while supporting the mast in my jig, then finally rounding them with various grits of sandpaper on a cork block :
 

 

 

 
Next I cut the step in for the heel :
 

 
I turned the mast Wedges in a single piece. There is one for each deck :
 

 
Some views of the mast and wedges temporarily fitted to ensure correct alignment :
 

 

 

 
  Danny