BANYAN

Hi folks. Some further progress on the rudder which is now ready to hang. Below is the process for making the pintles which was made by first soldering two telescoping tubes of copper together to get to the right size for the leading edge of the rudder. This thicker walled tube was then soldered to the the copper plate which was then cut on my hobby saw to the right strap thickness. The was pintle was then shaped on a former to the same thickness as the rudder blade. The photo with the raw materials shows the telescoping tubes with the smaller being the same size as the mating hole in the gudgeon. The photo showing a near complete pintle (still to be drilled) and gudgeon shows a nice tight fit - the pintle still has cleaning of the solder to be completed. Everything is made of copper except the nails I used to simulate the rivet heads which are brass. i tried making some small nails but have yet to refine/improve my technique (based on Ed Tosti's method) and really need to make a jig for this. With my nerve issues I find I cannot hold the wire in a plier with grovve as Ed does. These turned out okay as shown in the completed rudder, which I will hang after painting the rudder head and fitting the strap and eyes to accept the emergency chains and shackles. cheers Pat

Good luck with the move Michael - hopefully no new repairs needed the other end cheers Pat

You don't muck around do you Danny. This will be another interesting build so I'll pull up a chair also. cheers Pat

Nice even coverage there Carl; looks good. I like the third-hand too cheers Pat

So, a little easier than Vulture (but not much) Nice work Danny. cheers Pat

Hi Gaetan, you could also try to make her like an 'accordion' with a flexible bellows type construction to shorten/lengthen as required Nice work by the way cheers Pat

You have made a lot of nice looking progress Greg, she will look a treat when completed. cheers Pat

Kurt, I found taking small amounts each pass worked best as there is less chance of the 'kickback' especially with small pieces. I use about a 1/3 turn of the front wheel -usually works for me. If you do try to take more off make sure you are not standing behind the entry/feed side just in case of kickback - I usually work with the sander across my body so it feeds right to left. With very thin and small pieces try using double sided tape (such as carpet tape) to hold the piece to a larger carrier piece. cheers Pat

That is some very fiddly work and you have achieved mastery over it Danny - very clean and precise. cheers Pat

Just an airfare Carl; I can provide the 'coldies' cheers Pat

Welcome aboard Richard; lots of helpful advice both in the forum and in the articles database. Look forward to seeing your work. cheers Pat

Hi folks, I have been making slow progress lately as the research side of the project has taken more time than I can really spare and, I have been busy making furniture for the nursery for the soon to be born first grandchild. The following pictures show some of the small items I have been, and continue, working on. I have also completed the heads, stern bench and made a start on the common service lifebuoy (more on the latter in a later post). First the pissdales. These are only 8mm across, 4mm deep at the apex, and 4mm across the opening. The drain tube looks a little out of scale in the photo but look OK in real life These still need to be cleaned up a little. The second photo shows the process of making the rudder gudgeons. The process I have used is the one Ed Tostie described in his Naiad build and modified in his YA build; this process and works well once you learn to control the copper when cutting (hence the odd shape - it got away from me a couple of times ) - Ed did warn of it grabbing so my error . These still have to be polished and cleaned up a little. I have made 4 but only two show in the photo. The wood strip is a jig of the same size as the rudder post (width and depth). The straps are short as the rudder post is quite thin and in reality the gudgeon straps would have wrapped around the post. however, as We have already fitted the propeller and its control mechanisms (see earlier posts) this is impossible now so will terminate at the end of the post. The third photo shows where I am at in constructing the towing timbers (bollards). These are about 75% complete; the process I used was to cut some 4mm brass square tube to length, solder a cap to the top, drill for the cross pin, insert and solder the cross pin, insert and solder the base locator pin. The cross pins have yet to be trimmed to size and the ends rounded over with a cup burr. The bottom round bar pins are for locating the bollards and to reinforce the glue connection. Then, a lot of cleaning up before blackening. I decided to make them from brass as at this scale, I found it near impossible to make a sub post of wood and add an iron cap. These will be blackened and would appear much the same as if I had made them from wood and iron as the whole item was painted black anyway. I don't know how Ed does such detailed work at this scale - respect! cheers Pat

You'll get there Mark, some good progress there. cheers Pat

Snowy, I went through this saga with my Endeavour build. I am about to lose the internet connection here as a new system is being fitted today - fingers crossed all goes well If i get a chance to find this I will update this post but otherwise I will do so after reconnection. in the meantime try looking for The Boats of Men of War by "May" . A search through the forums may also bring up a few answers as it has been raised on several occasions. [Edit: a quick search found this, but there is more definitive info avail. cheers Pat

Great to see you back at it Rusty; you haven't lost any of your skills during the interval - very nice work. cheers Pat

Nice work Carl, plenty of detail and well worth the frustrations. Mark - I wouldn't recommend wax of any type unless you are absolutely sure you will get it all off before painting? cheers Pat

Stunning work yet again Ed, everything is so well manufactured and finished - QUALITY cheers Pat

Thanks Ed, a very nice clean job you have done of that, hence my question. I have also just noticed the material you have used in the vice for holding the mast to minimise any marking and movement. Will need to find something similar. Thanks again for all the feedback and ideas cheers Pat

Danny you have really mastered this building medium very quickly; very nice work and great detailing at that scale. cheers Pat

Hi Ed, very nice work and a great explanation of techniques as we have come to expect. Maybe a silly question in that I have missed it, but how do you get the futtock deadeye lower eyes through the small trestles? Are the holes drilled and squared large enough to accept the eye or do you expand the lower eye after threading through as a flattened piece? cheers Pat

Nice analysis Jason. I agree with the RB/Syren combination being the more realistic. Thinning the quoin bed should resolve your issue I think ? Nice work. cheers Pat

Very nice work Danny, especially noting the scale you are working at. cheers Pat

For irregular surfaces also try those refillable fibre bristle propelling pens BUT do take care not to get a fibre remnant in your hands/fingers as they are a real pain to remove They clean surfaces really well and I find it not even necessary to do any other prep on small items; although treatment to remove finger oils etc if not wearing gloves is recommended. cheers Pat

Looks great Steven and a tribute to your efforts. cheers Pat

Great smithing Ed, they look very good! I sure hope there is enough strength in them at the tips/ends to sustain the pressure of the shrouds and preventers etc without them bending or will the cantilever action reduce this a little? cheers Pat