Dan Vadas

Hi all, 
 
My latest Card model - A Halinski kit of a Russian Mi24D Helicopter. Here are the pics of the cover page, 2 of the 3 pages of the  laser-cut pieces, resin wheels and a preformed canopy :




 
This is going to be my most difficult card model to date. There are over 4,000 pieces (HMS Hood had about 2,500), some of them half the size of the smallest I've done so far. This should be FUN  .
 
Danny

Thanks Druxey, I sure did. I managed to drill the holes with a Pin Vise without "re-arranging" any rigging .
 
Fitting Swivel Guns
 
I've also fitted the Swivel Guns that I'd made earlier. They are only going on the port side. All the guns can be moved in any direction. Once again, I had to redrill the holes in the posts from 0.8mm to 1mm to accept the mounting legs :
 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

Thanks for the kind comments Robin, George, Mark, David, Albert, Carl, Ronnie and Marc. As always they are much appreciated .
 
Fitting Hammock Cranes
 
I managed to drill the holes for the hammock crane mounting "bolts" without going completely insane, but it was a near thing . It would have been MUCH easier if I'd done this a lot earlier in the build. The couple hiding amongst the shrouds were fun (not).
 
I've fitted the passing ropes too. I chose to use a simple knot at each end :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

....... continued.
 
The standing end of the Fore Course Sheet is seized to an eyebolt below the aft fixed block, through the sheet block, through the fixed block, and belays to the aft cleat in the bulwark :
 

 
The standing end of the Main Course Sheet is seized to an eyebolt below the fixed block on the quarterdeck planksheer, through the sheet block, through the fixed block, and belays to a timberhead forward of the block :
 

 
The sheets for the topsails start with a crown knot through the strop in the clue block, through the sheet block on the outboard end of the lower yard, inboard to the sheet block near the centre of the yard, and belays to the fore topsail sheet bitts (fore), main topsail sheet bitts (main) and to an eyebolt at the foot of the mizzen mast (mizzen) :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The Spritsail clues and sheets are rigged in similar fashion, both belaying to cleats in the bow :
 

 
I won't be adding any more rigging such as Buntlines, Leechlines, or any of the Staysail rigging as no sails are going on this model.
 
 Danny

Clues, Tacks and Sheets
 
I have finished all the rigging apart from the Ensign and Jack Halyards. Yay .
 
The final lines to do were the Clues, Tacks and Sheets. Being loose-footed the lower fore and main yards have Tacks, there is none on the crossjack as it doesn't carry a sail. The topsails only have clues and sheets, and the topgallants have neither. These lines all control the foot of each sail. They are hauled downward when the sails are in use.
 
Here are a couple of pics of the overall view :
 

 

 
The tacks on the lower yards all use a Crown Knot which goes through the strop in the sheet block. I tied a simplified version which looks similar from a distance :
 

 
Here's a pic from TFFM on the configuration. I've done mine a little differently as there are no sails :
 

 

 
The clue starts with a Timber Hitch around the yard. Here's a pic of this knot :
 

 
It then goes through the clue block. To see how I made these specialised blocks click HERE. Next it passes through the clue block on the yard and belays to the Main Topsail Sheet Bitts (main course) or the Fore Topsail Sheet Bitts (fore course). Both go through the sheaves in the bitts before belaying to the bitt rails :
 

 
The topsail clues are similar except they belay to the Fore Jeer Bitts (fore), the Quarterdeck Rail (main) and two of the cleats at the foot of the Mizzen Mast (mizzen).
 
The Tacks for the fore course start with a crown knot which goes through the fore sheet block strop, through the large tack block on the boomkin and belays to a timberhead in the bow.
 

 
The main course tacks go through the Chesstree sheaves, through the fixed blocks and belay to the forward cleats inside the bulwark :
 

 

 
Continued in next post .......

Thank you George and John, much appreciated.
 
 
George - here are a couple more pics of the Fish Davit which might make it's fitting a bit clearer :
 

 
The inner end goes through the Spanshackle Ring :
 

 
I had to shorten the fish davit considerably from the length shown in TFFM, as it would have finished way too far outboard (it's probably still a bit too long). TFFM's fish davit is on HMS Resolution and fits forward of the foremast and is a rather different setup.
 
The last thing to fit on both anchors is the rope seized to the Shankpainter Chain, which was fitted at the time the Channels went on. The rope is 0.45mm in diameter and was too large to fit through the chain link, so I made a small ring to which I seized the rope :
 

 
The port side anchor is shown as Stowed. The shankpainter chain loops around the shank of the anchor and belays to the timberhead forward of the fish davit block :
 

 

 
The stock is belayed to the cathead. I had to "be my own captain" when stowing the anchors - feel free to tell me I've got it wrong, but they don't fit any other way :
 

 
Some more pics of the port anchor :
 

 

 

 
 Danny

Stern Lights Fitted
 
Not far from the finish line now . I've fitted the three open Stern Lights that I made a few years ago :
 

 

 

 
The only things left to do now are the Capstan Bars, and all the coils for the belaying.
 
 Danny

Rope Coils
 
The last bit of work on the actual model is to place all the "dummy" Rope Coils in their various positions.
 
I made several types, depending on how the line was belayed. I used a simple jig to coil the rope :
 

 
For the coils that go over railings I used this method after first coiling them on the previous jig :
 

 

 
Here's a small selection showing various types and sizes :
 

 

 
And some of the coils fitted :
 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

Thank you Remco. I'm still a LONG way off thinking about masts yet Brian   .
 
Fixed Gangway Newel Posts and Railings
 
The last of the Posts and Railings. The railings have an "S" bend in them to allow for the differences in widths of the gangway :
 

 

 

 

 
There is a strap which both reinforces the railing and gives an extra handhold :
 

 

 
  Danny

Thanks go out to Tim, David, John, Mark, Joe, Patrick, David, Druxey, Michael, Toni and Popeye. I surprised myself with how successfully the railings turned out too .
 
Toni, next time I need to do some of this micro-soldering I'll make sure to document my method. It involves a block of Pumice stone to support the tiny rings.
 
Quarterdeck Breastwork
 
The Quarterdeck Breastwork was made in similar fashion to that on the Forecastle, with a few differences. The stanchions each have two sheaves (2.5mm diameter) instead of one, and there is a second rail.
 
Here's a pic of the setup I used in the lathe to make the 10 sheaves. Because of the small diameter of the brass wire I had to work very close to the chuck. This setup minimized the steps needed - I made the sheaves one at a time and parted them off as I went, moving the stock for each one.
 
The hole was drilled first, then I used the Parting Tool to score the wire to prevent it slipping sideways. The groove was cut next, and finally I finished parting the piece off. It took about an hour to set everything up and cut the 10 sheaves :
 

 
The five stanchions were turned using the DRO - they turned out identically . The slots for the sheaves were cut in the Mill using a broken 0.8mm drill, going 1mm deeper with each cut :
 

 
The sheaves were fitted, and the stanchions cut to length. There is a tiny difference in the angle of the bottom of each to allow for the roundup in the deck :
 

 
I used a scraper to cut the molding into the edges of a long piece of stock for the rails. Then I marked out and cut the square holes for the stanchions on the Byrnes saw. As I did for the forecastle railing a second piece was glued to the other edge to get the rail to the right width :
 

 

 
I used some 1.5mm bamboo pegs to secure the two outer stanchions to the deck and clamped the rail into place :
 

 
After a coat of Minwax :
 

 
This concludes Chapter 10 of "The Fully Framed Model - HMN Swan Class Sloops 1767-1780" Volume 2.
 
  Danny

Thank you Russel, Timmo and Kevin.
 
 
Well how about this then Timmo ?
 
Ladderway Railings
 
The Stanchions for the railings are turned from 1.2mm brass wire. They taper from 0.7mm at the top to 1mm at the bottom. The lugs that hold the railings are made from a couple of spare chain links (left over from the pump chains). They are silver soldered to the stanchions - a bit tricky to hold in position, as the double ones are only 1.6mm long and the singles are 0.8mm :
 

 
Here's the coin again - the stanchions are 18mm long :
 

 

 
Fitted to the ship :
 

 

 
  Danny

Thanks Theo, John, John, Nils and Edwin.
 
 
Picky, picky .....
 
Quarterdeck Ladderway
 
The last ladderway to be made and fitted is the one for the quarterdeck. This would need to have been removed any time the lower capstan would have been in use.
 
I made it in similar fashion to all the previous ones :
 

 

 

 

 
  Danny

Thanks for the comments Alistair, Druxey, Joe, David, Mark, David, John, Remco, Alex, Patrick, Grant, Sherry and Popeye .
 
 
Alistair, it probably depends on the particular ship as to how much camber (or "roundup") the gratings have. On the Swans it's quite a bit more than the roundup of the decks.
 
 
Take a look down the page a bit Remco .
 
Continuing on with the wheel .... I turned the Barrel and fitted it to the wheel :
 

 

 
Last things to make were the two Stanchions that support the wheel assembly. These have a molded section in their faces, which I cut with an Xacto :
 

 
Here's a pic showing how small the wheel is compared to a 5c piece :
 

 
The wheel dry-fitted to the deck. I'll leave it off for now as it could get damaged fairly easily. Oh yeah, and the wheel is fully operational (or will be when it's rigged ) :
 

 

 

 
  Danny

..... Continued
 
(Thank you Geoff and Caroline)
 
The unit after milling the slots. I must have miscalculated one of the cuts, but I later managed to correct it by cutting and gluing tiny portions of wood back in. The repair turned out invisible :
 

 
The spokes needed the sections where they join the hub and rim squared off, and also reduced in thickness to keep the spokes central :
 

 
The first three spokes glued in. I used CA for a temporary fix to keep them aligned :
 

 
After gluing in all the spokes I cut another 10 thin segments of the rim and hub and Epoxied them on. Then it was back into the lathe to trim them down. The pic below is how they came off the lathe before cleaning up :
 

 
Cleaned up with a very sharp Xacto :
 

 
Last step, and the scariest   , was to soak the unit in Isopropyl Alcohol to soften the PVA which attached the wheel to the block. I held my breath when I started removing it, but ..... SUCCESS :D :
 

 
A little bit of final cleaning up is still needed after the alcohol has fully evaporated.
 
  Danny

Thanks for looking in again, and the kind comments John, Ben, Pat, Sherry, David, David, Grant, Steve and Doris. I appreciate it .
 
Ship's Wheel
 
Making the Ship's Wheel is one of the most challenging, but FUN, parts of the whole Build. I used some of the method shown in TFFM, with some other ideas of my own. I used English Box, as some of the 32 parts are very thin and needed the best timber available.
 
First I turned up the 10 Spokes. These were done using the Digital Readout on the lathe. If I'd failed with these then I'd have had to look at "Plan B" - buying a ready-made wheel. The only "failure" I had was with the first one .... I wasn't happy with the thickness of the handpiece (too thin). Version 2.0 looks better  :
 

 
I started by making a "building block" from a piece of 10mm thick Pear. The Rim of the wheel is 3" thick, whereas the Hub is 5" thick, so I turned out the centre portion 1" deeper to allow the hub to be centralised in the wheel (measurements are "real life"). After marking out the limits of the rim I cut and glued the hub to the block, and also the 10 segments of the rim. I used PVA to glue the pieces to the block but Epoxy to glue the segments of the rim together, for reasons which will become apparent later on :
 

 
Next I turned the rim and hub to size :
 

 

 
Leaving the block in the chuck I transferred the unit to the Mill, and cut the 10 slots for the spokes with the aid of my Indexing Attachment :
 

 

 
Continued next Post ....

Companion Top
 
The aft Companion has a clerestory-style top fitted to it. Cutting the 2mm x 3mm holes for the Lights was a challenge . I cut them with a #11 Xacto and a tiny chisel, and bevelled their outer edges :
 

 
I "glazed" the lights with strips of very thin acrylic sheet, glued in with PVA. The corners of the four sections have been bevelled for a knife-edge fit :
 

 

 
A roof was cut from a piece of 0.6mm thick Castello and glued to the sides :
 

 
The assembly fitted to the deck :
 

 

 
  Danny

Forecastle Railing and Spar Rack
 
There is a Railing on the aft end of the Forecastle. Two Stanchions support the port and starboard sections. Each stanchion is fitted with a 2mm diameter x 0.7mm thick sheave which I turned on the lathe :
 

 
I made the rails in two sections, as it was nearly impossible to accurately cut the square holes for the stanchions without splitting the timber :
 

 

 
Some time ago I mentioned that there didn't seem to be a forward support for the ship's boats - yes there is . The Spar Rack does this job - the boats are lashed to spare spars carried on the rack. The rack is the same width as the railings. They still need a finish applied :
 

 

 
  Danny

Thanks again Doris, John, Patrick (welcome to my Log) and Edwin .
 
Belfry
 
The Belfry roof is carved from a single piece of English Box :
 

 

 
The two stanchions are dark Swiss Pear and the Headstock is English Box. I turned the bell on the lathe and scratchbuilt the two cleats from brass sheet :
 

 
The belfry assembly fixed in place :
 

 

 
  Danny

Hi all,
 
I've managed to get a little bit done - the following would normally have taken me about half a day, instead I've spent nearly three days on these pieces. At least I can still do SOMETHING .
 
Fore Jeer Bitts
 
The Fore Jeer Bitts on Vulture are similar to the Fore Topsail Sheet Bitts, except they don't continue down to the upper deck. There is no room for Standards on them either as the hatch behind them is wider than most other Swan Class ships :
 

 
I've also made and fitted 22 Eyebolts - 10 around the Foremast, 8 in the bulwarks adjacent to the mast, and 4 in the Breast Beam :
 

 

 

 
  Danny

Thanks for the compliments Eamonn, Janos, John, Popeye, Maury and Maurino.
 
Janos - yes the darker wood for the handrails is Swiss Pear
 
Maury, I've used the 7 - 10 method for other octagons, but the jig makes it a lot easier as I don't have to keep a careful eye on the lines .
 
Back to work - the Swivel Gun Mounts have a re-enforcing strap to hold the base of the swivel mounts. These are bolted through the timber mounts on the real ship, but I've omitted this detail as the bolt heads would be almost too tiny to see on the model. There is supposed to be an octagonal band around the top as well, but once again I'm not fitting that - I had several attempts at making them using various methods, but none looked satisfactory.
 

 

 
All the Mounts are now permanently fitted. The Swivel Guns themselves won't be fitted until almost at the end of the build.
 

 

 
  Danny

No problem Eamonn. The pics below almost explain themselves. I used my table saw to cut the V groove, first the two outer cuts to depth, then a cut down the middle for the bottom of the V, and then some decreasing cuts either side to remove the bulk of the wood. I finished it off with a V gouge - it looks a bit rough, but it holds the piece quite firmly. I used my fingers to hold the piece down whilst sanding - holding and shaping them is easier done before cutting the piece to length off the long stock.
 
The stopper glued to one end helps keep the stock at the correct distance from the end - I simply marked the jig with a pencil at the point where I had to stop sanding. If all your pieces are the same length you could glue a piece of scrap across the V at the mark to avoid going over it.
 

 

 
I start off by sanding down one corner until the sanding stick just touches the top of the jig, then turn it 90 degrees and sand down the second corner and so on.
 

 

 
Setting the height was a bit of trial and error, but you could probably calculate and measure the amount of depth required.
 
If you have quite a few pieces to shape you could CA a couple of strips of an old hacksaw blade or flat steel either side of the V groove to avoid sanding the top of the jig too low - I only had 16 pieces to shape so I didn't bother, but the last three or four needed careful work because I DID sand some off the jig. You can see that in the second pic above.
 
  Danny

Thanks for the comments on the jigs Remco, Mark, dragzz, Doris, John and Pat. I'd toyed with the idea of using the Mill, but after cutting the first swivel mount in a couple of minutes I figured the jig would work quicker .
 
I've now temporarily glued all the Port side mounts in place and sanded the Sheer into them. Now I'll fit the Starboard ones and sand them horizontally athwartships.
 

 

 
  Danny

Several hours later I've made all the swivel gun mounts to this stage. Next comes some rather tricky ironwork.
 

 
  Danny

Thanks again Grant, Allan, Bug, David, Guy and Alex - your comments are very welcome .
 
Allan and David - I'm intending to fully mast and rig the ship (if I live that long ).
 
Entry Steps 
 
There are six Entry Steps per side - I'm only fitting the Port side.
 
To avoid making yet another Molding Scraper (which would have been very difficult to use around the ends of the steps in any case) I've made each step in two pieces using English Box. I used a previously made scraper to shape the lower portions, along with needle files and Xacto knife.
 

 

 

 
The two steps on the black Wales have been stained with Ebony wood stain - real Ebony didn't like my scraper very much, too much chipping out happened when I tried it on a sample piece :
 

 

 
Each step needed a varying degree of bevel sanded into it's inboard face to match the shape of the hull at that point.
 
  Danny

Fenders
 
The Fenders assist in loading the ship, especially from a boat. Barrels could be more easily loaded as the fenders make a smooth run over the rails below :
 

 

 
Unlike the Chesstrees I fitted earlier, the fenders don't play any part of the rigging so I'm only fitting them to the Port side.
 
  Danny