Gabek

I set up my little table saw to make carlings. I’m astounded that I had to make over a metre of 2.6mm x 2.6mm stock for this tiny model! (And there will be way more needed for the ledges!) As I was cutting all the carlings I was mulling over the next steps and realized that I need to deal with the beam arms before anything else. The stock material  was made by resawing some birch left over from the frames. 

 

 
 
 
 
(Kind of messy job with the spray glue!)
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
My biggest concern in making these beam arms was to make sure I had the spacing and sizes all consistent.  At thIs scale, just a fraction of a millimetre would be noticeable.  So I devised a plan to mark and shape the pieces so that they all matched.  After I glued on templates I sanded each raw blank carefully to where the beam arms needed to be notched. This allowed me to line up those notches when I clamped all four beam arms together.  I then made the stop cuts for the notches by cutting across all four beam arms at once. 



 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Using a square and knife to mark the notches.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marking all done.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Using this microsaw to make the stop cuts
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
I separated the pieces, made several depth cuts in the notched out areas, and used a small chisel to rough cut the material. I concentrated on getting one beam arm completed by filing, sanding, scraping and praying.  This first beam arm would become the template for the remaining ones, which were first rough-shaped on the belt sander and then clamped altogether for final shaping.  Although not perfect, I'm pleased with the end products. It was good practice for when I will do the same for the gun deck.
 




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Depth cuts to assist in making the notches
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Taking out material using a small chisel.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 



 
 
 
 
 
Filing to the lines.
 
 
 

 
First beam arm done.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Three more to go! 

Getting ready for final shaping.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Here are all the tools I used to make these! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
One wrong move and...🤬😢😫

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The whole time I worked on these I chuckled at how much anxiety they were able to create and how much they reminded me of the wishbone from the Operation game!  And about as big! 

 
Clear skies!
Gabe
 

Hi
When I started this project, I was most afraid how i will make brass  Gangway brackets.
I had never really worked with brass and don't have any experience with soldering.
 
After many attempts its looks quite good/for me:)/
 



When the brakets are installed


 

Wonderful work, Graham!  The belfry looks awesome - nice touch and clever how you pulled it off.  
Clear skies!
Gabe

If you have any questions just ask Gabe........
Glad I could be help...and follow my build log of the Great Republic and you can see pics of the process.......
 
Rob

Excellent work, Rob! I can pretty much guarantee that I'll be copying your method! 
Clear skies,
Gabe

Excellent work, Rob! I can pretty much guarantee that I'll be copying your method! 
Clear skies,
Gabe

The jibs and stay sails sheets are thin stainless wire painted to mimic rope

As some know...I use plain copy paper to make sails and they work pretty well, and look very convincing too..

Hi,
I can't believe it's over a year since I last added to this build log.....! Here are some details of the progress that I have made:
 
With the quarter deck in place it was time to cut the tops off the forward bulkheads.

 
Next job was to re-install the outer forecastle gunport strips that had been removed following the advice of Shipyard Sid.

The beakhead bulkhead had the roundhouses fitted and was painted. It will have the additional decoration added before it is finally glued into place. It’s currently just dry fitted.

With the deck planked and tree nailed, using the method previously explained, and inner bulwarks fitted…

…. I made up the quarterdeck screen assembly......

I decided to try and produce a modified version of the belfry.  The uprights provided in the kit seemed to lack detail of the mouldings as shown in John McKay’s ‘Anatomy of the Ship’ and were restricted to just the front and back surfaces.  
I also wanted to replicate the copper roof.  After a bit of experimentation, and a few failures, I came up with a way to press form thin copper sheet into an acceptable shape. This is the result …..




 
Second planking on the outside of the hull and inside the bulwarks was completed, gunports lined and then all painted.  The cap strips were glued into place.  I couldn’t find anything provided for the small curved sections just ahead of the poop deck so laminated some.  Two strips of walnut were soaked and then clamped around a former, in this case a wooden collet I had made to hold ‘turned’ wooden components for some automata I’ve been making.

Once they had dried these were glued and re-clamped before being cut and sanded to size and fitted into place.

Forecastle gratings were assembled but I chose to make them up separately from the deck rather than following the method outlined in the instructions.  Having gone to the trouble of trying to replicate the dovetail details of the coaming joints on the gratings on the previous deck, (which are now hardly visible!), I was keen to try and do the same thing here. Probably the hardest aspect was trying to sand the slight curve that was needed on the top surface.

The galley chimney was given a bit of attention with the addition of two handles and the impression of the seam on the main body prior to painting, using pictures of the chimney found on-line as a guide.


The Forecastle Breast Beam assembly has also now been completed. All these pieces are dry fitted and will be glued in place once some more painting has been done, including the cap strips, and a few other additions have been added to the inner bulwarks.


Cheer for now,
Graham.
 

many thanks for your kind words Gabe,
I`m very happy to have this rare old steamer in my collection now.
 
Nils

Just wonderful, Nils! Admirable work as usual.  And a truly remarkable body of work. 
Clear skies,
Gabe

Just wonderful, Nils! Admirable work as usual.  And a truly remarkable body of work. 
Clear skies,
Gabe

What a beautiful collection Nils. My favorite is pictured right above....with the Chebec.
 
Yves

Hand brushing is a good alternative, quite satisfying as well!
I have only basic painting skills and do not want to use an airbrush. I have had excellent results with hand brushing using Valejo colours following these rules:
1. Use very good brushes, with appropriate width for the job
2. Thin the paint (should be runny but not like water), avoid heavy coats.
3. For Valejo, use the hand brushing thinner, different and better than the air brush thinner. It congeals if left so must have resin in it (this is what valejo claims so not easily reproduced at home). Get the 60 ml bottle, it is not expensive.
4. Use a bit of retarder.
5. Start from dry and end on wet. Take your time, you can go over the area 2-3 times. Avoid puddles at the edges.
6. Trust the paint! Do not go over again to "correct" or smooth out brush marks. They will disappear. You ll probably need a dozen or more coats either way.
7. Best to seal the wood, I use a water based wood sealer sanded to 400 grit
8. I use plastic pots with caps that seal pretty well and are cheap. The paint stays wet for months.
9. Use only frog tape or Tamiya tape or equivalent. The paint will bleed under ordinary masking tape or electricians tape.
10. Acrylic paint is not tough so needs to be protected with varnish or some topcoat
 
Hopefully these will be of help to some. May not work for all but I was able to paint my 80 cm hull with almost no brush marks.
 
Vaddoc

Thanks for putting this thread on.
For thosee who decide to paint with brushes, here is a handy tip when using water-based paints (or paints that can be successfully thinned by water, such as the Valejo paints):  in orde to preserve your brush, use a shallow saucer or dish with a puddle of water in the middle.  Place your brushes on the edge of the saucer / dish with the hairs submerged in the water.  That way when you do apply paint the water will aidd in filling the spaces between the hairs with paint much quicker, and at the same time allow for the tip of the brush to remain in shape for much longer.
When finished, wash out your brushes with water, rubb the excess water off on a paper towel, then store the brushes HAIRS UP and let dry naturally.
This technique works well if you use your brushes regularly.  There is a tip on storing your brushes long term, but I need to double check before I post it here (do not want to mix up tips for oil paint with acrylics - both media are very different in nature and application, and both require different techniques to ensure longevity of your brushes).
 
Hope this helps

Just exquisite woodworking Ainars😃

Finally finished gun dec. And are ready for planking.

Weak/Week in the Knees
After too much research (I'm cursed by this habit/addiction! 😩) and a week of dithering I decided to alter the arrangement of knees from the simpler, yet elegant, plans. In the AoTS books Diana and Pandora, the lodging knees forward of frame 0 abut to the aft side of the beams, there are knees between the beam arms and there is a transition where there are two overlapping lodging knees or a scarphed pair.  
 
Mess deck of HMS Pandora (Anatomy of the Ship, McKay)
 
Mess deck of HMS Diana (AoTS, White)
 
 
[aside: this content editor is giving me grief on my iPad 😡]
 
I couldn’t visualize the "transition" knees but, lo' and behold, there was a picture in HMS Trincomalee by Davies:

I took ideas from all of these plans.
 
First, I notched the deck clamp for the beams. In an attempt to be consistent I resorted to scribing the depth of these notches by using dividers from a drafting set my father gave me when I was 12! 





Dry-fitting the beams

Now on to the lodging knees.  I drew up the additional knees and my rearrangement.  At this time I decided to incorporate a hatchway to the hold and...(gulp)...I'm debating about putting in the well and shot locker 😫😭.  I decided a while ago not to do this because it will obstruct the view into this tiny model, but after recently looking at Ainar's wonderful work I may just have to add these. (Sigh)
 
I cut some birch stock and glued on templates. Shaping these pieces challenged me and it took me a while to work out exactly how I could do this and maintain consistency. Just holding them was troublesome!  I was most worried that the knees needed to look identical from port to starboard. So, I roughly shaped each knee and then clamped together opposites and fine-shaped them as one piece. I had to use several tools to accomplish this but needle files, diamond files and small rifflers did not work well and I ended up attaching  sandpaper to chopsticks for the final shaping.  Once I had the work flow figured out I could shape a pair in about 10-15 minutes.  
Now my headaches will be what do I do next?! Once this deck is in place I won’t have easy access to the hold...so I'm going to sit down with a bottle if aspirin and do some more careful planning!
 
Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

Thanks, Edward! The nice thing about small pieces is that you have very little material to remove.  The bad thing is you have very little material left behind! 😆 
 
NOT looking forward to the hanging knees.  Too much shaping, too little space. Any advice would be welcome! 
 
Regards,
Gabe

Weak/Week in the Knees
After too much research (I'm cursed by this habit/addiction! 😩) and a week of dithering I decided to alter the arrangement of knees from the simpler, yet elegant, plans. In the AoTS books Diana and Pandora, the lodging knees forward of frame 0 abut to the aft side of the beams, there are knees between the beam arms and there is a transition where there are two overlapping lodging knees or a scarphed pair.  
 
Mess deck of HMS Pandora (Anatomy of the Ship, McKay)
 
Mess deck of HMS Diana (AoTS, White)
 
 
[aside: this content editor is giving me grief on my iPad 😡]
 
I couldn’t visualize the "transition" knees but, lo' and behold, there was a picture in HMS Trincomalee by Davies:

I took ideas from all of these plans.
 
First, I notched the deck clamp for the beams. In an attempt to be consistent I resorted to scribing the depth of these notches by using dividers from a drafting set my father gave me when I was 12! 





Dry-fitting the beams

Now on to the lodging knees.  I drew up the additional knees and my rearrangement.  At this time I decided to incorporate a hatchway to the hold and...(gulp)...I'm debating about putting in the well and shot locker 😫😭.  I decided a while ago not to do this because it will obstruct the view into this tiny model, but after recently looking at Ainar's wonderful work I may just have to add these. (Sigh)
 
I cut some birch stock and glued on templates. Shaping these pieces challenged me and it took me a while to work out exactly how I could do this and maintain consistency. Just holding them was troublesome!  I was most worried that the knees needed to look identical from port to starboard. So, I roughly shaped each knee and then clamped together opposites and fine-shaped them as one piece. I had to use several tools to accomplish this but needle files, diamond files and small rifflers did not work well and I ended up attaching  sandpaper to chopsticks for the final shaping.  Once I had the work flow figured out I could shape a pair in about 10-15 minutes.  
Now my headaches will be what do I do next?! Once this deck is in place I won’t have easy access to the hold...so I'm going to sit down with a bottle if aspirin and do some more careful planning!
 
Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

Wow! Now there's a challenge!! The knees, lodging and hanging variety gave me headaches at 1:60 scale now you're doing more at a much smaller scale and making it look easy👏👏 I take my hat off to you sir!!
Looking good!!

Weak/Week in the Knees
After too much research (I'm cursed by this habit/addiction! 😩) and a week of dithering I decided to alter the arrangement of knees from the simpler, yet elegant, plans. In the AoTS books Diana and Pandora, the lodging knees forward of frame 0 abut to the aft side of the beams, there are knees between the beam arms and there is a transition where there are two overlapping lodging knees or a scarphed pair.  
 
Mess deck of HMS Pandora (Anatomy of the Ship, McKay)
 
Mess deck of HMS Diana (AoTS, White)
 
 
[aside: this content editor is giving me grief on my iPad 😡]
 
I couldn’t visualize the "transition" knees but, lo' and behold, there was a picture in HMS Trincomalee by Davies:

I took ideas from all of these plans.
 
First, I notched the deck clamp for the beams. In an attempt to be consistent I resorted to scribing the depth of these notches by using dividers from a drafting set my father gave me when I was 12! 





Dry-fitting the beams

Now on to the lodging knees.  I drew up the additional knees and my rearrangement.  At this time I decided to incorporate a hatchway to the hold and...(gulp)...I'm debating about putting in the well and shot locker 😫😭.  I decided a while ago not to do this because it will obstruct the view into this tiny model, but after recently looking at Ainar's wonderful work I may just have to add these. (Sigh)
 
I cut some birch stock and glued on templates. Shaping these pieces challenged me and it took me a while to work out exactly how I could do this and maintain consistency. Just holding them was troublesome!  I was most worried that the knees needed to look identical from port to starboard. So, I roughly shaped each knee and then clamped together opposites and fine-shaped them as one piece. I had to use several tools to accomplish this but needle files, diamond files and small rifflers did not work well and I ended up attaching  sandpaper to chopsticks for the final shaping.  Once I had the work flow figured out I could shape a pair in about 10-15 minutes.  
Now my headaches will be what do I do next?! Once this deck is in place I won’t have easy access to the hold...so I'm going to sit down with a bottle if aspirin and do some more careful planning!
 
Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

Weak/Week in the Knees
After too much research (I'm cursed by this habit/addiction! 😩) and a week of dithering I decided to alter the arrangement of knees from the simpler, yet elegant, plans. In the AoTS books Diana and Pandora, the lodging knees forward of frame 0 abut to the aft side of the beams, there are knees between the beam arms and there is a transition where there are two overlapping lodging knees or a scarphed pair.  
 
Mess deck of HMS Pandora (Anatomy of the Ship, McKay)
 
Mess deck of HMS Diana (AoTS, White)
 
 
[aside: this content editor is giving me grief on my iPad 😡]
 
I couldn’t visualize the "transition" knees but, lo' and behold, there was a picture in HMS Trincomalee by Davies:

I took ideas from all of these plans.
 
First, I notched the deck clamp for the beams. In an attempt to be consistent I resorted to scribing the depth of these notches by using dividers from a drafting set my father gave me when I was 12! 





Dry-fitting the beams

Now on to the lodging knees.  I drew up the additional knees and my rearrangement.  At this time I decided to incorporate a hatchway to the hold and...(gulp)...I'm debating about putting in the well and shot locker 😫😭.  I decided a while ago not to do this because it will obstruct the view into this tiny model, but after recently looking at Ainar's wonderful work I may just have to add these. (Sigh)
 
I cut some birch stock and glued on templates. Shaping these pieces challenged me and it took me a while to work out exactly how I could do this and maintain consistency. Just holding them was troublesome!  I was most worried that the knees needed to look identical from port to starboard. So, I roughly shaped each knee and then clamped together opposites and fine-shaped them as one piece. I had to use several tools to accomplish this but needle files, diamond files and small rifflers did not work well and I ended up attaching  sandpaper to chopsticks for the final shaping.  Once I had the work flow figured out I could shape a pair in about 10-15 minutes.  
Now my headaches will be what do I do next?! Once this deck is in place I won’t have easy access to the hold...so I'm going to sit down with a bottle if aspirin and do some more careful planning!
 
Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

Weak/Week in the Knees
After too much research (I'm cursed by this habit/addiction! 😩) and a week of dithering I decided to alter the arrangement of knees from the simpler, yet elegant, plans. In the AoTS books Diana and Pandora, the lodging knees forward of frame 0 abut to the aft side of the beams, there are knees between the beam arms and there is a transition where there are two overlapping lodging knees or a scarphed pair.  
 
Mess deck of HMS Pandora (Anatomy of the Ship, McKay)
 
Mess deck of HMS Diana (AoTS, White)
 
 
[aside: this content editor is giving me grief on my iPad 😡]
 
I couldn’t visualize the "transition" knees but, lo' and behold, there was a picture in HMS Trincomalee by Davies:

I took ideas from all of these plans.
 
First, I notched the deck clamp for the beams. In an attempt to be consistent I resorted to scribing the depth of these notches by using dividers from a drafting set my father gave me when I was 12! 





Dry-fitting the beams

Now on to the lodging knees.  I drew up the additional knees and my rearrangement.  At this time I decided to incorporate a hatchway to the hold and...(gulp)...I'm debating about putting in the well and shot locker 😫😭.  I decided a while ago not to do this because it will obstruct the view into this tiny model, but after recently looking at Ainar's wonderful work I may just have to add these. (Sigh)
 
I cut some birch stock and glued on templates. Shaping these pieces challenged me and it took me a while to work out exactly how I could do this and maintain consistency. Just holding them was troublesome!  I was most worried that the knees needed to look identical from port to starboard. So, I roughly shaped each knee and then clamped together opposites and fine-shaped them as one piece. I had to use several tools to accomplish this but needle files, diamond files and small rifflers did not work well and I ended up attaching  sandpaper to chopsticks for the final shaping.  Once I had the work flow figured out I could shape a pair in about 10-15 minutes.  
Now my headaches will be what do I do next?! Once this deck is in place I won’t have easy access to the hold...so I'm going to sit down with a bottle if aspirin and do some more careful planning!
 
Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

To arms!
 
I had a clear idea of how I was going to fit the beam arms to the beam. I would need to concentrate on creating notches that lined up, were square and had tight junctions.  Well, easier said than done!  I first trimmed all the planking and sanded the ends on a flat surface. A single coat of varethane was applied to the outer frames to keep dirt off and minimize damage.  

I dry fit the beam to determine the proper placement of the beam arms.  Once laid out I used an exacto knife to mark where the notches would need to be made, maintaining a correct alignment of opposite beams arms. The microsaw allowed me to create the stop cuts.  I needed to use the very tip of the xacto blade to carefully chisel out the notches. A slip here and I might have knocked out a giant chip, wrecking all the work...but what’s new?! All of us are in this boat (🤪) together! 

 


It took a lot of trimming, scraping and cursing to fit the beam arms and, in the end, I had a few unsightly gaps and mistakes.  I then reminded myself that this work will likely never be seen.  Besides, I collected dust from sanding the frames and will be adding it to the glue when the time comes to fill in the voids!😳🤣

Clear skies!
Gabe