Captain Poison

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?

Hello my dear collegues!
 
I have recently finished my Le Coureur. It's been a long way, but every journey has its end.
I can only say this building  was a real pleasure. 
Thanks to all those who walked with me in this journey. 
I'm posting these pictures, wich are the last i took last weekend. 
 
I hope you like them.  I decided to add a representation of the main frame, showing the climker planking on one side. And Capt. Rosily and his crew are already on board.
 
This project is completed! Hope to see you in my future builds! 
 
Thank you very much for your comments, they are always important to me. 

Schooners- thanks for checking in! Sorry I am just seeing your message now as I have been off the forums pretty much since my last update and nose down in decking or just enjoying the summer! Now that the rain has arrived back in the PNW I will most likely be getting back to work!

JpR62, stuglo- thanks for the kind words and for checking in!

Not a huge update and kind of a boring photo from my phone but deck framing has been completed. I am currently working on waterways.

-Chad

Thanks guys. I have a good friend who does ships and plastic models who turned me on to evergreen plastics when I was lamenting how much of a pain making the stove was going to be. It was a great material for some of the smaller details. I ended up using just about everything under the sun- plastic, aluminum, brass, copper, piano wire, HO train axles, and scale chain. Here is a photo before airbrushing that shows the hodgepodge (the black is plastic parts cannibalized from the first stove)!

 
Chad

Not a huge update but a couple small projects that took quite a bit of time. Finished the pump well and shot locker and the Brodie Stove. I did quite  bit of research on the well and shot locker and really never nailed down anything better than this. I'm happy with it and my kids thought it was awesome that the little sliding windows actually worked. The Brodie stove is actually my second one- the first I completed and then realized that it was too big. I had gotten lazy and pretty much copied the size directly from TFFM books. Second go around followed scale best I could (the stove on the Eagle was the one pulled out of the Alert- the first capture of the war by the Essex) and added a bit more detail I was able to find on a model from the Royal Museums Greenwich**. The stove will go somewhere safe until it's ready to go in. Next up is deck beams and some metalwork for the outside of the hull.
 




 
 
 
Chad

**  https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/37331.html
 
 
 

Work has been progressing a little faster (compared to MY normal building speed!) now that the kids are back in school. I ended up adding a bunch more berth deck beams and completed the planking. I had a tough time finding the balance between how much to plank and how much to leave open for viewing of the keelson/frames/beams. I'm not 100% happy with the decision I came up with but the draft of the Eagle is so small that once the main deck beams, carlings, and planking is in the viewing is going to be pretty limited anyway.  The middle open spot is for viewing the keelson and the opening near the aft mast step is where the well will be. The small hole aft is where the capstan will seat.

I spent more time than I like to admit researching the mast steps. The steps were missing from the wreck and the bolt patterns were the only clues that were left as to what it looked like. The pattern didn't match up with that of a standard English mast step, so a bit of digging brought me to the wreck of the brig Linnet, another ship built on Lake Champlain. The Linnet's step was still partially in place and the patterns were identical, so it was what I went with. I am by no means an expert when it comes to ship construction so for me to say this would be a standard setup of the time is a stretch, but it at least lets me sleep at night! We do know that the step would be very simple based on build time so this fit the bill.
 Since most gluing is done below decks I've finished with danish oil and a coat of minwax floor paste to give it a bit of a glow.
 




 
 
Chad

Over the last few weeks I've worked on finishing the interior of the hull. It's been oiled with Danish oil and the clamp and keel riveted as per the Eagle book. Tonight I finished installing the berthing deck beams, which will still need some kind of fastener on the end. The entire berthing deck was missing from the wreck so it is entirely conjectural. I decided to make the beams closer in the area of where the stove will go, thinking there may be additional support in that area.
 



 
Chad

 

I started this build waaaay back in 2013 after I finished my Triton cross section, but really didn't want to start a build log until I had some substantial progress done (I'm a really slow builder). I was also lofting my own frames and lived in perpetual fear up until recently that I made some mistake that would only become apparent when I started fairing the hull and would end in the ruin of my build. I figured having a multipage build log when that happened would make it that much harder to recover my confidence. Well, I got past that point and it turns out my drawings worked, so a slow day at work seemed like a good time as any to start a log.
 
So- the Eagle... built on Lake Champlain in 1814 in 19 days (the irony of spending nearly six years making a model of a ship built in 19 days is not lost on me) to help Thomas Macdonough's fleet stop the British from taking control of the lake and essentially cut New England off from the rest of the country. He succeeded at the battle of Plattsburgh, helping keep the British from having any claims for territory in the Treaty of Ghent. After her long, illustrious career of a few months she was laid up in ordinary where she lasted about as long as you would expect a ship of such quality as that of one built in 19 days would last. The wreck sat on the bottom of the Poultney River until 1981 when it was rediscovered and the archaeological study started by the great people of the Texas A&M Nautical Archaeology program (a career choice I found out about 20 years too late in life).
 
I started the model using the book done on the study (and one worth every penny if the subject interests you), The Eagle: An American Brig on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812, and Gen Bodnar's practicum for the Eagle found on modelshipbuilder.com. The practicum was invaluable for lofting frames and giving some direction on order of building but I have pretty much moved away from it at this point. I've probably used roughly a billion other references at this point but here's a couple that have been in heavy rotation..
 
Robnbill's build log of the Eagle- Bill did a great job of documenting things. When I don't feel like reinventing the wheel I like to check in with his log
Coffins of the Brave: lake Shipwrecks of the War of 1812- some updated info on the eagle and have gleaned some building practices of the time from it. Excellent read.
The Texas A&M ship model laboratory model of the Jefferson- not the same builder but helped me wrap my head around drawing up a stern. Also, just a really nice model.
 
 
So anyway, that's some backstory. I don't want to make a "how-to" log like I did with my cross section and plan to just keep it picture heavy. If there's any questions feel free to ask and I'll happily answer. A few photos to cover the first five and a half years...
 
Starting with the plans. Frames, deadwood, etc... I tried to work off my primary source, The Eagle: An American Brig on Lake Champlain (from here on out "The Eagle book") as much as possible and make this model as accurate as possible. Drawing everything was a job and learning experience in itself. 




Keel laid. Model to be made from pear, ebony, and maple
 


Frames started going up. The pear will be finished in Danish oil, so I had done the keel, deadwood and the sides of the frames as i went along to save having to go in between every frame later on.
 


..and this is the point where life outside of modeling took over for a few years. I have two little ones that I spend tons of time doing stuff with, and also moved to a house that required some attention to drag it out of the 70's. Framing moved along slowly and I wanted to put a nice stern together, which took some research (the stem and stern of the wreck were pretty much gone). Fast forward to a few months ago and inside and out are faired. The Eagle's frames were all over the place and I used those locations for the model, which is why a keen observer may think I was drunk while lofting frames.
 


Work has progressed a bit farther, but it's about high time to break out the real camera and retire the iphone for this build log. 
 
 
Chad

Good morning.