Captain Poison

Previous post on modifying the Building Slip. I've been singing its praises but nothing is perfect (except my wife of course) . Apart from a stable bridge I've changed the keel clamps to allow access to breadth plan.
Return to timberheads.
Need to bevel forward faces .Keep in mind how the planks lie to ensure remove right side- then mark it.I have no confidence in my ability with a chisel (as recommended in TFFM) but use combination of table belt sander, hand held belt sander, small sanding block and a final knife scaping to flatten the curved surface that my sanding tends to give. Note- suggests a narrow margin is left (illustrated in book).There is another (smaller) bevel on the opposite-inboard- side. Check multiple times that the wood you propose to remove coincides with direction of future planking.Looking under the "foot" should give a rhomboid shape.
TFFM then speake of a small step (1.3mm) that suggests can be postponed. Good, because I don't understand what is to be done. Referring to the 3D, I see something, but am not sure if this is it.
The next step looks complicated , delicate and slow- and the Bosun suggests I need to fix the toilet cistern -oh s***. As the pair of timberheads are frequently offered up to the stem, a pin is loosely inserted near base at right angles, with the stem between them .

Whilst waiting for chapter four parts to arrive (5 to 8  weeks delivery time) I decided to put my newly purchased Proxxon mill to use (mainly to learn how to use it)
The first project was to cut the hole in the stern, then using the mill to make the components for the rudder.
Took a few attempts but am generally pleased with the outcome.  I found the pintles the most difficult part to get right.

Following on from this I tackled the cannons having purchased the resin barrels from Chuck some time ago.
I initially made them from AYC but wasn't too happy with the results.  My next attempt was with the local native  timber Kauri.
This timber is easy to work and takes a nice finish.  There is still some work to do on these pending the arrival of  materials from the U.S.

Meanwhile I am tackling the capstan, then onto chapter four.

Hi Thomas, I,ve started on the second planking, looking at your copper plating, did you clean the copper plates before gluing them to the hull. Regards

(Sorry for the mix up, I put it in the wrong category by mistake!)
As the lockdown continues here in the UK, I have been steadily working on my Jalouse. Just finished the Ballahoo a few weeks back. 
Here are some pictures of both. I do hope this log can help future builders of the Jalouse as there seems to be no logs at all on this beautiful ship.
 
Cheers,
 
Tom

Here is Ballahoo and the beginning of Jalouse:

Manufacture and construction of the carriage
for the 36th cannon.
 
Karl
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure head from Lafitte's Le Gaspillarde, part of an auction in 1938. I will not post the original description due to the dated wording in the text.
 

 

Hi Siggi. I saw that sir but it seems to only talk about that part of the deck behind the step it self. Behind the step on the upper deck was the fore mast partner which was the heavy type and at the gun deck you had the standard from the bit pins and in front of the step the standard from the stem to help strength the front of it on the forward side. Thing is it doesn't say any thing about in front of the step at the upper deck. I do think that those carlings that I have installed on Montague may of been supported by the messenger roller's. Goodwin shows them on page 178 and gives a time line of 1790 which is 10 years after Montagea, so could she have had them in her time, and  am leaning to the side of she did. Hoping some one will set me straight on this one. I did find some thing on a Victory plan in Arthur Bugler book vol 2, which is the plans that show some thing around the bowsprit but at the moment unsure of what that could be. Another one is what the Victory was post of looked like when she was built, One item to noticed is that the plan, I believe I got from the danish museum, doesn't show her as having the small beakhead platform but just the upper deck planking going from the inside to the out side., and that one is for another day. Thank you Siggi and others for their in put and would of been a lot less fun with out those inputs.  

Buongiorno e grazie a tutti siete molto gentili.
Più foto.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

Here is the final version of the main gun deck, complete with engraved chequer plating at the stern. This will be fitted to my prototype model and is cut from a scrap piece of veneer, hence the darker than usual colour variations...

With the autumnal weather, the motivation to do less popular work comes back,
even if they are supposed to have a meditative character, at least that's the opinion of some of my fellow modellers ...😁

 

Thank you kind folks for the likes. Just getting started seems to have taken forever! Here is a small bit of wisdom I will pass on to you...when importing from a pdf and creating tool paths for lasers, cnc routers etc...'Check the darn slot widths before you cut!!!' For some reason when I brought these into Corel, every corner was open so I had to close all the open segments. I printed out the bulkheads straight from the pdf and used the small scale included to make sure everything was good. I didn't check the slots!! every 6mm slot was off by a hair or 2 to the small side. I know...better looking at it than for it right? Anyways..finally freed from their sheet bondage
and filed and sanded to fit, we can get on with trimming the beard and building!! I still can't believe how this thing is designed. The entire ship balances on a 6mm spine! Thank you all for going before me as I can clearly learn from your experiences and wonderful craftsmanship

I have now added the inner counter planking, using the laser cut pieces, I then made up the margin planks, using the templates and cutting in the scarph joints. After mounting the margin planks, I made up and mounted the waterways, using square strip wood sanded to a quarter round shape. Lastly, sanded the checkerboard floor to size and shape and glued it in place.
 
Next, I will do the coamings and gratings and the other deck parts.
 
Bob

Alan here is a couple of photo's of the partner on the gun deck for the main mast  showing it's construction. Hope you enjoy the photo's. Also i don't think the lighter partners could be moved and once installed could not be adjusted,like the heavy partner's. Gary

You can use this option, with diluted paint instead of going horizontally, go vertical and drying a little with a cloth. The process is slow but with good results.

I've been working on chapter four, port side. The filler piece for the hawse hole, bulwark planking, fixed blocks, spirketting and deck clamps are completed. It was my goal to get the overall width at the waste no wider than 9/32" (13.5").
 
The first task was to finish the inner bulkhead fairing. I opted to sand the bulkheads, gun ports, etc. down to 1/8" all the way to the false deck. Another option would have been to taper everything gradually to 1/8". Chuck would know more about this, I'm sure. Anyway, it worked out okay in the end. After completing the first layer spirketting and bulwark planking the width at the waste was now 1/4" (12") overall.
 
Next, I moved on to the second layer of spirketting strakes that run along the false deck. Before adding the second strake that runs underneath the gun ports I softened the top edge. Next I added the two deck clamps. Once installed, the bottom edge was sanded flush with the bulwark planking while leaving the top edge at full width. The upper spirketting that runs along the waste was then added. Here I used a slightly thinner .028" strip in order to insure that the finished width at the waste would be no wider than 9/32" (13.5"). Lastly, I added a second layer strake above this to each clamp. This strake was tapered from a single strip that filled the area of the clamps to the lower notches.
 
I still have some port painting and cleaning up of the bowsprit hole to do. Taking advice from Bob (Rafine), I will add all of the bulwark paneling after the bulwarks are painted red.
 

 

 

 
Mike

Hi druxey, I see now. I confused its length because of the wheel handle coming down in front. So it looks like it would be shorter than the actual travel of the rope lock to lock, but more than chafing in a hole just a little bigger than the rope. I will use it, because I would reasonably guess the sliding cover as in Victory would have been something later than 1760.
 
More work on the pillars, now on the upper deck reaching to the quarterdeck and forecastle. I am mainly working from what I can see in my photos of the original Bellona model (below), and what seems rational. For example, no pillars beside the aft hatch, and therefore no pillars possible there because the centers do no line up with any beams above. No pillars close to the bitts, because they are providing vertical support at their locations. Except, the model shows pillars under the fore brace bitts on the quarterdeck. Also, iron columns beside the stove. I am not sure about pillars in the wardroom on the upper deck. It looks like there are more in the last photo below, but I can't quite see if it is every beam, and how far astern. I seem to have more beams in the quarterdeck over the wardroom than the model shows, but my beams are taken directly from the original dockyard drawings.
 
5:00 Mountain time, sun over the yardarm, and time for a scotch to think about it!
 
Mark
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Alan here's a old one showing the crew goofing off. Gary

I always loved this model. It is a  plastic Revell Constitution, kit bashed by a true artist

I have been pulled out of the workshop by other stuff for a while--don't you hate how that happens?--but back to it!
Thanks, Gary, I added those additional pillars:

 
It is a little tight on the tiller, I may have to trim it back just a bit. And the one just forward of the fore riding bitt has to miss the square hatch on the gundeck, so it stands just aft of the beam in the upper deck above. Maybe it just ran up to the deck above, or maybe it was longer and bolted to the side of the beam above. I am showing the carlings under the stove in the section above, but they are on the sides, not the center, so they don't interact with the central pillar. Or maybe the pillar at this point is two, so it can sit under the stove carlings at this one location?
 
druxey, thanks for that photo. If it is indeed a single hole with a hood, then I guess they didn't originally worry too much about chafing. Because the initial sketch you sent, and that I redrew for the Bellona, clearly shows the rope will traverse back and forth from the wheel. Interesting! My photo of the original Bellona model frustratingly shows no detail here. This issue shows how a technological invention--the steering wheel--had to be adjusted over time as experience showed some of the shortcomings of the original version. Happens at light speed today, much slower back then. We might have enjoyed a slightly slower pace of life!
 
Mark
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

the kitchen:

 

 

 

 

 

 

✋...
 
 
 

I decided that I should probably set up some kind of "production line" to get the 28 12 pounder carriages built and outfitted per the instructions.
 
Since I have a few spare carriage kits (and am sure Chuck will sell me more) I completed the first as a prototype, less all the outfitting (bolt heads, eyebolts, etc.)
 
Here is my prototype - the cannon is just sitting there but all the carriage elements are glued together.

 

 
 
I used a previously created jig I usually use for holding rigging blocks and such to "bin" the pieces from the laser carry sheets after the laser char has been removed and the axles turned to round.
 
Here is my "production bins" with the other three sets of components from the first set of four.

 
For the quion handle I used a small brass belaying pin with most of the pin cut off. I had to drill a #68 size hole in the back of the quion to fit the belaying pin but it does not have to be very deep. I did not even have to use any glue, at least so far.
 
For those who may not have understood my method for turning the axles round here are some pictures of the square axle in the Dremel handpiece, the same axle after rounding and with the wheel (a rear wheel in this case) on the axle. I used the 180 grit sanding stick to round the axle. It took about 20 seconds of fairly light pressure to get it down enough to fit the wheel.
 

 

I am now at the point of painting the plastic hull of my Wanderer, and am in a bit of a quandary of how to proceed.  I have used a technique promoted by Les Wilkins in his book How To Build Plastic Ship Models in the past with very good results.   
    The technique was to first spray paint the masked hull with Floquil Copper.  While this coat of copper paint is still fresh, you take a medium paint brush and apply Floquil Light Green paint with random vertical strokes, always brushing away from the waterline.  Then using a clean medium paint brush this process is repeated using Floquil Antique White. 
    Now with a clean brush frequently dipped in turpentine (Not lacquer thinner because it will eat right through the copper paint!) lightly brush with vertical strokes (again away from the waterline) over the green and white paints while they are still wet to make these two colors meld with the copper.  Also, don’t brush too hard or you can rub through the copper paint and the turpentine can harm the plastic.
     The next step is to use a string or wire to suspend the hull in midair to dry for 3 or 4 hours which will allow the turpentine to run down to the keel as it dries.  After the turpentine has evaporated and the paints have dried, take a piece of No. 600 sand paper and lightly sand the full length of the hull with back and forth strokes until some of the paint has been rubbed off the edges of the plates to make them somewhat more pronounced.  The last step is to take a clean damp rag and wipe off the resulting sanding residue from the hull.
    The only problem here is that Floquil paint was lacquer based and is no longer available.   I am wondering if this technique can be done with the enamel or water based paints that are available now.  I have two 3 oz. cans of Testors copper spray enamel to act as the base coat and since Testors paint is still readily available in green and white; could this technique be employed here with their enamel paint or maybe water base paint?