Dan Vadas

Thank you all.
 
Fitting the interior skin looked like it may have a problem with alignment. I'm not going to second-guess it, I've made that mistake before, so I've glued it up by aligning a couple of areas where I knew it was right. The pics below show where it looks like the skin falls way short or overlaps - most likely it's actually OK :



 
The Torsion Bar suspension comes next. I could have rolled paper tubes for the bars themselves, but the kit didn't supply any parts for these. Instead they had a template which I would have had to cut from plain paper and paint, or they suggested I could use wire. I chose PVC tubing, which was the right diameter and painted them to match the floor :


 
Some of the side bracing. Once again I used my punch kit to make the holes :

 
The transmission tunnel :

 
Some tiny parts - the wingnuts that close the hatches :


 
Danny
 

The Gearbox consists of about 40 parts. Here's a pic of some of them, the rest have already been put together :

 
There are even four bolt heads :

 
The finished box :


 
Danny

The Gearbox consists of about 40 parts. Here's a pic of some of them, the rest have already been put together :

 
There are even four bolt heads :

 
The finished box :


 
Danny

Thank you all.
 
Fitting the interior skin looked like it may have a problem with alignment. I'm not going to second-guess it, I've made that mistake before, so I've glued it up by aligning a couple of areas where I knew it was right. The pics below show where it looks like the skin falls way short or overlaps - most likely it's actually OK :



 
The Torsion Bar suspension comes next. I could have rolled paper tubes for the bars themselves, but the kit didn't supply any parts for these. Instead they had a template which I would have had to cut from plain paper and paint, or they suggested I could use wire. I chose PVC tubing, which was the right diameter and painted them to match the floor :


 
Some of the side bracing. Once again I used my punch kit to make the holes :

 
The transmission tunnel :

 
Some tiny parts - the wingnuts that close the hatches :


 
Danny
 

The Gearbox consists of about 40 parts. Here's a pic of some of them, the rest have already been put together :

 
There are even four bolt heads :

 
The finished box :


 
Danny

Thank you all.
 
Fitting the interior skin looked like it may have a problem with alignment. I'm not going to second-guess it, I've made that mistake before, so I've glued it up by aligning a couple of areas where I knew it was right. The pics below show where it looks like the skin falls way short or overlaps - most likely it's actually OK :



 
The Torsion Bar suspension comes next. I could have rolled paper tubes for the bars themselves, but the kit didn't supply any parts for these. Instead they had a template which I would have had to cut from plain paper and paint, or they suggested I could use wire. I chose PVC tubing, which was the right diameter and painted them to match the floor :


 
Some of the side bracing. Once again I used my punch kit to make the holes :

 
The transmission tunnel :

 
Some tiny parts - the wingnuts that close the hatches :


 
Danny
 

Thank you all.
 
Fitting the interior skin looked like it may have a problem with alignment. I'm not going to second-guess it, I've made that mistake before, so I've glued it up by aligning a couple of areas where I knew it was right. The pics below show where it looks like the skin falls way short or overlaps - most likely it's actually OK :



 
The Torsion Bar suspension comes next. I could have rolled paper tubes for the bars themselves, but the kit didn't supply any parts for these. Instead they had a template which I would have had to cut from plain paper and paint, or they suggested I could use wire. I chose PVC tubing, which was the right diameter and painted them to match the floor :


 
Some of the side bracing. Once again I used my punch kit to make the holes :

 
The transmission tunnel :

 
Some tiny parts - the wingnuts that close the hatches :


 
Danny
 

Thank you all.
 
Fitting the interior skin looked like it may have a problem with alignment. I'm not going to second-guess it, I've made that mistake before, so I've glued it up by aligning a couple of areas where I knew it was right. The pics below show where it looks like the skin falls way short or overlaps - most likely it's actually OK :



 
The Torsion Bar suspension comes next. I could have rolled paper tubes for the bars themselves, but the kit didn't supply any parts for these. Instead they had a template which I would have had to cut from plain paper and paint, or they suggested I could use wire. I chose PVC tubing, which was the right diameter and painted them to match the floor :


 
Some of the side bracing. Once again I used my punch kit to make the holes :

 
The transmission tunnel :

 
Some tiny parts - the wingnuts that close the hatches :


 
Danny
 

Thank you all.
 
Fitting the interior skin looked like it may have a problem with alignment. I'm not going to second-guess it, I've made that mistake before, so I've glued it up by aligning a couple of areas where I knew it was right. The pics below show where it looks like the skin falls way short or overlaps - most likely it's actually OK :



 
The Torsion Bar suspension comes next. I could have rolled paper tubes for the bars themselves, but the kit didn't supply any parts for these. Instead they had a template which I would have had to cut from plain paper and paint, or they suggested I could use wire. I chose PVC tubing, which was the right diameter and painted them to match the floor :


 
Some of the side bracing. Once again I used my punch kit to make the holes :

 
The transmission tunnel :

 
Some tiny parts - the wingnuts that close the hatches :


 
Danny
 

Thank you all.
 
Fitting the interior skin looked like it may have a problem with alignment. I'm not going to second-guess it, I've made that mistake before, so I've glued it up by aligning a couple of areas where I knew it was right. The pics below show where it looks like the skin falls way short or overlaps - most likely it's actually OK :



 
The Torsion Bar suspension comes next. I could have rolled paper tubes for the bars themselves, but the kit didn't supply any parts for these. Instead they had a template which I would have had to cut from plain paper and paint, or they suggested I could use wire. I chose PVC tubing, which was the right diameter and painted them to match the floor :


 
Some of the side bracing. Once again I used my punch kit to make the holes :

 
The transmission tunnel :

 
Some tiny parts - the wingnuts that close the hatches :


 
Danny
 

The idea with those is that you drill a hole about 2/3 the diameter of the thread first to make them easier to screw in.
 
Danny

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 312 – Spar Making Marathon
 
Not a lot new in this post.  Mostly work that has been shown before.  I normally work sequentially, completing an item through all the steps, then installing and rigging it.  This helps uncover any problems with the design or methods and allows corrections to be made before errors are duplicated.  With the spar making process pretty well in hand and quite a few left to make, I decided to work these together to save time.  Forming the remaining upper yards – three for the main and five for the mizzen - is described in this post.
 
The blanks for all the spars had been cut and sized earlier – the so-called "first trims" – squares of the maximum spar diameter cut to length.  After marking the centerlines and quarters, centerline holes for the jackstays and sheet sheaves were drilled as shown in the first picture for one of the larger yards.
 

After centering and determining the spacing for the jackstay stanchions the holes were drilled using the mill hand wheel to locate each .024" hole.  Where yards had internal sheaves for sheets, these were also drilled to the required size.
 
After this drilling, each spar was shaped and finished before proceeding to the next. Some of these steps are described below.  I believe all have been described in earlier posts.  This next picture shows the first tapering steps on one of the spars, with the work held in a vise in this case.
 

The vise was used in this way for the first tapering on smaller spars, instead of the cam fixture shown below.  Once two opposite faces were shaped to form the second trim, the larger tapered spars were mounted as shown below to form the tapers on the two remaining sides.
 

To adapt this fixture to smaller work, it was modified by substituting a fixed straight fence as shown in the next picture.
 

This eliminated flexing of the small spars between the cams.  These spars are also small enough to deflect at the ends to the straight line of the fence.  Final shaping, and most of the shaping on the smallest spars, was done using a sanding block with 220-grit paper as shown in the next picture.
 

This works well for light wood removal and also for maintaining fair curves along the spar.  With the four sides tapered, the octagonal shape was first applied at the ends, around the square sections.
 

I made rounded transitions on the insides of these sections, but squared off on the outer side to receive the yard arm bands.  The octagonal shape was then filed on each spar inside the square end sections.  This process was illustrated in earlier posts.
 
In the next picture, the central octagonal area of one of the spars has been marked and the rounding has begun starting with file strokes that begin at the mark and remove the eight corners along the spar.
 

All the square yards are left octagonal at the center.  Finally, the remaining corners are filed off to form the rounds.
 

A smaller grooved holder is shown above, but much of this final rounding is hand held.  The corners are first removed using the file, then with a sanding stick.  Throughout all the above work, calipers are used to check both diameters at the quarters and the rounded shape.
 
The last picture shows the set of finished spars – the last significant wood work on the model.
 

The top three spars in the picture are the main topgallant, royal, and skysail yards.  The next five are the mizzen from the lower topsail up to the skysail.  The very small spar at the bottom of the picture is the mizzen monkey gaff.  All have been finished with one light coat of wipe-on poly to help keep them clean as the ironwork is added – the next work to be done.
 
Ed

Hi Grant, yeah it's a bit different to what I'm used to . This kit also comes with a detailed cockpit and engine compartment, so that will be fun.
 
As I didn't get any laser-cut framing etc for this model I've had to do it the hard way, glue the parts to 1mm card and cut out. I've found it's a lot easier and more accurate to actually glue it to some 0.5mm first, cut out the piece, and then glue it to another 0.5mm card and cut out again (the 2nd time is a lot easier). This ensures a much squarer cut without running off on an angle. I'm using fairly hard card, the "right" stuff is easier to cut but I've run out of large sections of it at the moment :


 
Several parts require an angle to be cut on at least one edge. I use a scalpel to take off the bulk of the material, and finish off with a 150 grit sanding stick :

 
Once the main hull was glued up it came time to fit the outer skin, which comes in one piece. It actually fit quite well :



 
The lit supplies extra parts if you want a more "3D" effect than merely the printed covers etc. The longer pieces in the pic below are slightly rounded using a brass rod and a piece of high-density foam :

 
The start of the suspension :

 
These little (3mm) boxes were a bit more difficult to make than usual because they are double thickness. Despite that they turned out quite well :


 
To avoid damaging the parts that protrude past the floor level while working on the rest of the hull I used double-sided tape to stick on some 4mm thick card packers :

 
Danny

Hi Grant, yeah it's a bit different to what I'm used to . This kit also comes with a detailed cockpit and engine compartment, so that will be fun.
 
As I didn't get any laser-cut framing etc for this model I've had to do it the hard way, glue the parts to 1mm card and cut out. I've found it's a lot easier and more accurate to actually glue it to some 0.5mm first, cut out the piece, and then glue it to another 0.5mm card and cut out again (the 2nd time is a lot easier). This ensures a much squarer cut without running off on an angle. I'm using fairly hard card, the "right" stuff is easier to cut but I've run out of large sections of it at the moment :


 
Several parts require an angle to be cut on at least one edge. I use a scalpel to take off the bulk of the material, and finish off with a 150 grit sanding stick :

 
Once the main hull was glued up it came time to fit the outer skin, which comes in one piece. It actually fit quite well :



 
The lit supplies extra parts if you want a more "3D" effect than merely the printed covers etc. The longer pieces in the pic below are slightly rounded using a brass rod and a piece of high-density foam :

 
The start of the suspension :

 
These little (3mm) boxes were a bit more difficult to make than usual because they are double thickness. Despite that they turned out quite well :


 
To avoid damaging the parts that protrude past the floor level while working on the rest of the hull I used double-sided tape to stick on some 4mm thick card packers :

 
Danny

Hi Grant, yeah it's a bit different to what I'm used to . This kit also comes with a detailed cockpit and engine compartment, so that will be fun.
 
As I didn't get any laser-cut framing etc for this model I've had to do it the hard way, glue the parts to 1mm card and cut out. I've found it's a lot easier and more accurate to actually glue it to some 0.5mm first, cut out the piece, and then glue it to another 0.5mm card and cut out again (the 2nd time is a lot easier). This ensures a much squarer cut without running off on an angle. I'm using fairly hard card, the "right" stuff is easier to cut but I've run out of large sections of it at the moment :


 
Several parts require an angle to be cut on at least one edge. I use a scalpel to take off the bulk of the material, and finish off with a 150 grit sanding stick :

 
Once the main hull was glued up it came time to fit the outer skin, which comes in one piece. It actually fit quite well :



 
The lit supplies extra parts if you want a more "3D" effect than merely the printed covers etc. The longer pieces in the pic below are slightly rounded using a brass rod and a piece of high-density foam :

 
The start of the suspension :

 
These little (3mm) boxes were a bit more difficult to make than usual because they are double thickness. Despite that they turned out quite well :


 
To avoid damaging the parts that protrude past the floor level while working on the rest of the hull I used double-sided tape to stick on some 4mm thick card packers :

 
Danny

Looks like another fascinating project, Danny.
 
John

Interesting build. 
Looks like a stug. 3f

look'in good Danny.....  

Looking interesting, Dan. I hope that the tape you've used comes off easily without taking the printed surface with it!

Hi Grant, yeah it's a bit different to what I'm used to . This kit also comes with a detailed cockpit and engine compartment, so that will be fun.
 
As I didn't get any laser-cut framing etc for this model I've had to do it the hard way, glue the parts to 1mm card and cut out. I've found it's a lot easier and more accurate to actually glue it to some 0.5mm first, cut out the piece, and then glue it to another 0.5mm card and cut out again (the 2nd time is a lot easier). This ensures a much squarer cut without running off on an angle. I'm using fairly hard card, the "right" stuff is easier to cut but I've run out of large sections of it at the moment :


 
Several parts require an angle to be cut on at least one edge. I use a scalpel to take off the bulk of the material, and finish off with a 150 grit sanding stick :

 
Once the main hull was glued up it came time to fit the outer skin, which comes in one piece. It actually fit quite well :



 
The lit supplies extra parts if you want a more "3D" effect than merely the printed covers etc. The longer pieces in the pic below are slightly rounded using a brass rod and a piece of high-density foam :

 
The start of the suspension :

 
These little (3mm) boxes were a bit more difficult to make than usual because they are double thickness. Despite that they turned out quite well :


 
To avoid damaging the parts that protrude past the floor level while working on the rest of the hull I used double-sided tape to stick on some 4mm thick card packers :

 
Danny

Hi Grant, yeah it's a bit different to what I'm used to . This kit also comes with a detailed cockpit and engine compartment, so that will be fun.
 
As I didn't get any laser-cut framing etc for this model I've had to do it the hard way, glue the parts to 1mm card and cut out. I've found it's a lot easier and more accurate to actually glue it to some 0.5mm first, cut out the piece, and then glue it to another 0.5mm card and cut out again (the 2nd time is a lot easier). This ensures a much squarer cut without running off on an angle. I'm using fairly hard card, the "right" stuff is easier to cut but I've run out of large sections of it at the moment :


 
Several parts require an angle to be cut on at least one edge. I use a scalpel to take off the bulk of the material, and finish off with a 150 grit sanding stick :

 
Once the main hull was glued up it came time to fit the outer skin, which comes in one piece. It actually fit quite well :



 
The lit supplies extra parts if you want a more "3D" effect than merely the printed covers etc. The longer pieces in the pic below are slightly rounded using a brass rod and a piece of high-density foam :

 
The start of the suspension :

 
These little (3mm) boxes were a bit more difficult to make than usual because they are double thickness. Despite that they turned out quite well :


 
To avoid damaging the parts that protrude past the floor level while working on the rest of the hull I used double-sided tape to stick on some 4mm thick card packers :

 
Danny

Hi Grant, yeah it's a bit different to what I'm used to . This kit also comes with a detailed cockpit and engine compartment, so that will be fun.
 
As I didn't get any laser-cut framing etc for this model I've had to do it the hard way, glue the parts to 1mm card and cut out. I've found it's a lot easier and more accurate to actually glue it to some 0.5mm first, cut out the piece, and then glue it to another 0.5mm card and cut out again (the 2nd time is a lot easier). This ensures a much squarer cut without running off on an angle. I'm using fairly hard card, the "right" stuff is easier to cut but I've run out of large sections of it at the moment :


 
Several parts require an angle to be cut on at least one edge. I use a scalpel to take off the bulk of the material, and finish off with a 150 grit sanding stick :

 
Once the main hull was glued up it came time to fit the outer skin, which comes in one piece. It actually fit quite well :



 
The lit supplies extra parts if you want a more "3D" effect than merely the printed covers etc. The longer pieces in the pic below are slightly rounded using a brass rod and a piece of high-density foam :

 
The start of the suspension :

 
These little (3mm) boxes were a bit more difficult to make than usual because they are double thickness. Despite that they turned out quite well :


 
To avoid damaging the parts that protrude past the floor level while working on the rest of the hull I used double-sided tape to stick on some 4mm thick card packers :

 
Danny

Hi Grant, yeah it's a bit different to what I'm used to . This kit also comes with a detailed cockpit and engine compartment, so that will be fun.
 
As I didn't get any laser-cut framing etc for this model I've had to do it the hard way, glue the parts to 1mm card and cut out. I've found it's a lot easier and more accurate to actually glue it to some 0.5mm first, cut out the piece, and then glue it to another 0.5mm card and cut out again (the 2nd time is a lot easier). This ensures a much squarer cut without running off on an angle. I'm using fairly hard card, the "right" stuff is easier to cut but I've run out of large sections of it at the moment :


 
Several parts require an angle to be cut on at least one edge. I use a scalpel to take off the bulk of the material, and finish off with a 150 grit sanding stick :

 
Once the main hull was glued up it came time to fit the outer skin, which comes in one piece. It actually fit quite well :



 
The lit supplies extra parts if you want a more "3D" effect than merely the printed covers etc. The longer pieces in the pic below are slightly rounded using a brass rod and a piece of high-density foam :

 
The start of the suspension :

 
These little (3mm) boxes were a bit more difficult to make than usual because they are double thickness. Despite that they turned out quite well :


 
To avoid damaging the parts that protrude past the floor level while working on the rest of the hull I used double-sided tape to stick on some 4mm thick card packers :

 
Danny

Hi Grant, yeah it's a bit different to what I'm used to . This kit also comes with a detailed cockpit and engine compartment, so that will be fun.
 
As I didn't get any laser-cut framing etc for this model I've had to do it the hard way, glue the parts to 1mm card and cut out. I've found it's a lot easier and more accurate to actually glue it to some 0.5mm first, cut out the piece, and then glue it to another 0.5mm card and cut out again (the 2nd time is a lot easier). This ensures a much squarer cut without running off on an angle. I'm using fairly hard card, the "right" stuff is easier to cut but I've run out of large sections of it at the moment :


 
Several parts require an angle to be cut on at least one edge. I use a scalpel to take off the bulk of the material, and finish off with a 150 grit sanding stick :

 
Once the main hull was glued up it came time to fit the outer skin, which comes in one piece. It actually fit quite well :



 
The lit supplies extra parts if you want a more "3D" effect than merely the printed covers etc. The longer pieces in the pic below are slightly rounded using a brass rod and a piece of high-density foam :

 
The start of the suspension :

 
These little (3mm) boxes were a bit more difficult to make than usual because they are double thickness. Despite that they turned out quite well :


 
To avoid damaging the parts that protrude past the floor level while working on the rest of the hull I used double-sided tape to stick on some 4mm thick card packers :

 
Danny

Hi Grant, yeah it's a bit different to what I'm used to . This kit also comes with a detailed cockpit and engine compartment, so that will be fun.
 
As I didn't get any laser-cut framing etc for this model I've had to do it the hard way, glue the parts to 1mm card and cut out. I've found it's a lot easier and more accurate to actually glue it to some 0.5mm first, cut out the piece, and then glue it to another 0.5mm card and cut out again (the 2nd time is a lot easier). This ensures a much squarer cut without running off on an angle. I'm using fairly hard card, the "right" stuff is easier to cut but I've run out of large sections of it at the moment :


 
Several parts require an angle to be cut on at least one edge. I use a scalpel to take off the bulk of the material, and finish off with a 150 grit sanding stick :

 
Once the main hull was glued up it came time to fit the outer skin, which comes in one piece. It actually fit quite well :



 
The lit supplies extra parts if you want a more "3D" effect than merely the printed covers etc. The longer pieces in the pic below are slightly rounded using a brass rod and a piece of high-density foam :

 
The start of the suspension :

 
These little (3mm) boxes were a bit more difficult to make than usual because they are double thickness. Despite that they turned out quite well :


 
To avoid damaging the parts that protrude past the floor level while working on the rest of the hull I used double-sided tape to stick on some 4mm thick card packers :

 
Danny