AnobiumPunctatum

Your wheel looks really good

Your wheel looks really good

Congrats Ed. The book would be a nice Christmas gift

The Book is out!
 
I hope I may be permitted some euphoria over the publication of Modeling the Extreme Clipper Young America, Volume I.  It took a lot of effort by Sea Watch Books and me to get this to market this year.  There were times early in the year when the amount of modeling and writing required to meet this deadline seemed insurmountable.  All the generous and supportive responses to the two build logs on this site helped us keep our nose to the grindstone.
 
The picture below of the book and its supplementary material hardly does justice to Derek Gardeners beautiful rendering of Young America on the Irish Sea on a winter’s morning as she approaches Liverpool – but it does serve as proof that the book is in print.  I have examined every inch of this first copy and am delighted with the result.  We hope you will be as well.
 
As I did with the Naiad books, I will start a topic in the book review section for comments, questions, addenda, and what I hope will be very few corrections. In the meantime, this posting on each of the two build logs will at least serve notice that the book is out.
 
Thanks again for all your support.
 

 
Ed
 

Really intersting jig for the milling job, Mick.
I'll cover your idea for my build. Thanks

WASHINGTON GALLEY....PART 4.....TRANSOMS
 
 
TWO UPDATES IN AS MANY DAYS.......BUSY,BUSY.....CANT YOU TELL IM ON PAROLE FROM WORK!!!
 
PATTERNS HAVE BEEN PASTED TO SOME APPROPRIATE STOCK IN THIS CASE 1/4 " THICK,JUST TO ALLOW PLENTY OF ROOM FOR MANOUVER.
 
THE TAFFRAIL HAS BEEN PASTED TO 1/8" INCH STOCK.
 
THE WING TRANSOM HAS BEEN CUT AND SHAPED BUT IVE LEFT THE ENDS UNFINISHED AS YET AS I NEED TO MAKE THE AFT CANT FRAME AND ITS ASSOCIATED HALF FRAME IN ORDER TO SEE HOW EVERYTHING FITS.........OR DOSNT AS THE CASE MAYBE!
 
APART FRON A WEE BIT OF FETTLING IM HAPPY WITH THE FIT OF THE WING TRANSOM TO THE INNER STERN POST.
 
PHOTOS INCLUDED.
 
CHEERS.....MICK

Your wheel looks really good

Back from another summer trip and eager to to get back to Cheerful.
 
I chose to deviate from the sequence that Chuck and the other Cheerful builders have followed at this point. Rather than doing the wales and the lower planking, I decided to treenail the upper planking. My reasoning was simple -- I hate to do all of the treenailing at once, and this allowed me to break it up. The treenailing was done by the drill and fill method, but I chose to use a more visible filler, rather than the subtle ( and likely more accurate) route taken by Chuck. I must admit that I simply like the look of the more visible treenails better. After completing the treenails, I applied a coat of Wipe-on Poly as a sealer.
 
Now I will move on to the wales and lower planking.
 
Bob 
 

I've finished the "Disposition of Frames" drawing.
 

 
I am not quite happy with the position of the timberheads between station line 17 and 19. But this is the position I got from the As Built plan of the Fly.
 
Next I will built my building board and start with the model.

Robin, just to make sure he didn't creep back into sight, I snapped off his feet and threw him into the brink.  Thank you Druxey, Mark, David and Maury.  And thank you everyone for the likes.
 
The final assembly is complicated by the fact the the height of the axletree must exactly fit the opening in the cistern cover, both in height and distance from the midline.  I had to remake the stanchions twice (and in one case, three times) to get the perfect fit.  The outer leg of the stanchion is inserted into a hole drilled in the hatch coaming.  The inner leg is secured with a bolt.  In the photos the metal looks unevenly blackened.  In real life it does not look blotchy.
 

 

 
This is one of the rare times I used CA.  I was concerned that the Elmer's Yellow would not hold the metal.  Once everything was secure, the chain was glued into the outer pump tube and then draped over the wheel assembly.  The port assembly turns; the starboard does not.  You can also see the pump dale sitting next to the port cistern.  This is a straight-forward box with a tongue to insert into the side of the cistern.  Since I have not decided what I will eventually do with the ordinance, I decided not to install it onto the cistern.
 

 

 

 

 
Now that everything is secure, I will make and install the rhodings.
 

Your wheel looks really good

Your wheel looks really good

The paddle wheel is done! Here's how I approached it:
 

 
While the Bertrand's wheels didn't survive to be recovered, one of the wheel hubs did, so we know the wheel had thirteen spokes. Using the estimated wheel diameter of 18', I laid out a template on my computer of 13 evenly divided spokes with a scale diameter of 18', and printed out five of them. These would form the basis of my wheel.
 
Meanwhile, I chose a dowel of the correct thickness for an axle. Then, for the hubs, I glued two pieces of styrene together, traced a series of circles of the right diameter (based on the recovered hub), and drilled axle holes through them. Then I cut out the rough circles with a hobby knife, smoothed them round with file and sandpaper, and painted them a dull metal black.
 

 
Apologies for the quality of this photo, but it shows the assembled wheels. I mounted each paper pattern with a pin at center, then laid thin strips of double-sided tape along  each spoke. This let me set the spokes in exactly the right orientation, before attaching them with carefully cut and fitted frame pieces. A careful look will also notice the inner ends of the spokes sanded to a slight angle to make them all fit together at the hub. On the real thing, the hub would have had sockets to hold each spoke, but I didn't think I could simulate that acceptably at this scale, so didn't. Better no detail than bad detail, in my opinion. As you'll see, it's almost impossible to tell once the wheel is finished. Removing the wheels from the double-sided tape was tricky, and I broke one by being too aggressive. It was fixed.
 
After sanding and shaping with a file, I painted these with diluted red paint. A bit too diluted, as I overdid it on several wheels and the diluted paint dissolved the wood glue holding these together and the wheels began to fall apart. With some very careful reassembly, a coat of glue along all surfaces, and some appropriate riverboat language, I salvaged the wheels no worse for the wear. Then I attached each hub, lightly weathered everything with brown pastel, and was ready to move on.
 

 
Now the real fun began. I carved the pillow blocks which support the axle, painted these and the axle, and began assembly. I'd wanted the wheel to turn, so had no intention of gluing the wheels onto the axle. I strung all five wheels loosely along the axle, glued on the pillow blocks, and glued the whole assembly to the support arms on the hull. Above you see me test-fitting the first paddle planks. I marked a few of these with the exact locations of each wheel, and clamped them on to hold the whole structure stable. Then I started gluing on other planks, all of which had been pre-painted at the same time as the wheels. 
 

 
Here's the hedgehog effect of the wheel covered in clamps. I glued every other plank to give the clamps room, then went back and filled in the gaps when the first round was done. Then I did the second, outer layer of planks. This went quickly and easily.
 

 
And here's the final result. The five wheels are near perfect copies of each other, such that the planks lined up perfectly. Another reason I left the wheels to turn freely on the hub, was to ensure I could get the best possible alignment between them. There were a couple spokes not quite right, a legacy of the dissolved glue and repair, but I can easily turn the wheel to hide them down by the rudder. It's really quite fun to sit there and turn the wheel gently. I may want to add some more detail, such as the bolts and straps that hold the paddles to the wheels, and some detail to the outer hubs, but not right now.
 
Someday it would be fun to build working machinery for such a paddle wheel, but this wasn't the project. The driving arms will attached permanently to the axle, and will not be in motion; only the wheel itself moves, unattached to the axle. It's good enough for me. 
 
I think it looks pretty neat with the wheel on, a real step forward toward looking like a steamboat. Now I'm off on vacation, two weeks hiking in Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming. As we're both former geologists, and Mrs Cathead worked at the park for three seasons many years ago, we're quite excited to return. On the way, we're stopping at the Bertrand museum at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge just north of Omaha, Nebraska, a place I've been many years ago but am now very excited to return to. The museum is at the location of Bertrand's sinking, and is full of recovered cargo from the boat and various other exhibits. I'm also hoping to collect some driftwood and sand from the Missouri River at that location for use in a future display base. 
 
So this build will be on hold for a bit, but for a good cause. 

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 18 – Fairing the Upper Works
 
When the hull was faired earlier, in the inverted position, little attention was paid to the upper works, so the outside of the toptimbers needed some work.  The sanding required to fair the outside of these was light.  The first picture shows this in progress using 220-grit paper on a Softsander® foam pad.
 

 
In the next picture the fairness is being checked with a pine batten.
 

 
The toptimbers were molded 6” at the top.  In the next picture this is being checked with calipers. 
 

 
You can see from the reading that they are still oversized somewhat at .076”.  They would later be faired to the final 6” (.0625”) by sanding the insides – but only after some reinforcing outer planking was in place.  However, it was necessary at this stage to fair the deck “beams” accurately – as shown in the next photo.
 

 
Fairing of the deck was particularly important to avoid waviness in the thin deck planking that would be added later.  In the next picture this is being checked during the sanding process using a pine batten.
 

 
When this work was being done, I did not expect to take this model to much further and consequently spent less time getting the deck line faired than I should have.  I will show the final deck planking later.  While acceptable, more attention at this stage would have yielded a truly beautiful installation of the long, spacious open main deck..
 
With this work completed, the construction of the topside planking and rails could begin.
 
 
Ed
 

Attaching rudder
 
Thank you Nils and Bob. ;-)
 
Four set of pintle and gudgeon braces were fixed on the rudder and stern post with brass nail. The nail heads were blackened after hammering. I think this work seems one of the hardest part to get neat result.
 
Cheers,
Lee

At first glance, the pump brake is an imposing structure with its multiple right angles.  Add to that the need to make the port and starboard brakes look alike. The axletree is made from five segments of 1.5" brass wire.  The vertical connectors are fabricated from 3" square brass rod which has been drilled to accept the axletree segments and shaped with files.  The various pieces were silver soldered together except where the long segment inserts into its fore connecting rod. This allows for fine adjustments in length during the final installation.  Don't forget to insert the wheel!
 

 

 
I am lucky enough to have Admiralty Models' PE set for the Swan class and this includes the wheel components and links of chain.  This is assembled like a bicycle chain, alternating double and single links.  Brass wire was inserted through the holes and the ends peened to secure it.  The picture also shows other components of the PE sheet.  After blackening, the chain look great in person but terrible on camera so I only am showing a top view to demonstrate the linking process.  
 

 

 
As a next step, everything is temporarily assembled to check for gross mistakes.
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

I agree: Taking time to plan and draw the planking layout and shift of butts is never a waste of time! It will save grief later on.

Perhaps it's interesting for you. Here's the link to the company which produces these cardbord and some nice paper kits:
 
http://www.model-shipyard.com/html/indexuk.html

It seems we, at MSW, are surrounded by masters ... master modeller Dan Pariser master redo-er Vadas, master restart-a-new Taylor, and now we have master fixer Dale, and we should not forget our building instruction masters Chuck and EdT, and the master of the large builds Bordeleau, and his oposite the mini master Igor. It's a wounderful site where each build log gives one masterful insights and knowledge ... I just love it.
 
Grant ... masterful workmanship!!! You may point out those near visible joins to me in that last picture ... I for one can't see them ... maybe I should get some surgery done on my eyes (like Brian/Probablynot wants to) for I must be getting blind real fast!!!

Really nice planking job

Perhaps it's interesting for you. Here's the link to the company which produces these cardbord and some nice paper kits:
 
http://www.model-shipyard.com/html/indexuk.html

I see that Ed's book on Young America is launched. Hearty congratulations!

Here are some more pics...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Clare

I've finished the "Disposition of Frames" drawing.
 

 
I am not quite happy with the position of the timberheads between station line 17 and 19. But this is the position I got from the As Built plan of the Fly.
 
Next I will built my building board and start with the model.

@Ed
 
Thank you. I use also the waterlines of the half breath plan. I am sure that's a lot more work to draw this manually because it was more than enough work with my CAD.
 
 
You're right. But it made a lot of fun to do this exercise.
Also I had some points I want to check with the drawing. On the Half Breath Plan were only the positions and angles of every second cant frame given. I wanted to check the reconstrction of the other cants. What's with the position of the gun ports? WHich cant frames do I have to shift? Is every timberhead given in the Sheer and Profile drawing on top of a frame?
 
If I compared the position of the timberheads given in the Sheer and Profile of Fly and in the DOF plan of Cygnet, I found some alterations, for example at the fore cants. I wanted to check the consequences for the frame design.
 
@druxey
I've checked the position of all timberheads of the Sheer and Profile drawing and my reconstruction again. At the after cant frames I found two timberheads whose position do not really match with my cants. The position of the other four timberheads is ok.
So I think to change my design will not solve the problem.
What do you think is the better solution? To move the timberhead or to add a timber between the frames and not to change the position.
 
@all
Thanks for your interest and hints, which I really appreciate.