rtropp

Well Mike, so far no complaints, aside the mistake with the box contents that I assume will be rectified.
 
 
Last night I attached the bulkheads, filler blocks and bow filler pieces.  Everything went smoothly, though I did find some bulkheads were very tight fits with the addition of a little glue despite fitting without issue when dry.  Something for me to remember on the next build.  I have one bulkhead that s sitting perhaps 0.2mm proud that I plan to sand down because I dared not try to force it in with a mallet- this despite a perfect dry fit.   I think my glue hardened slightly as I was working and so it was unable to evacuate the volume between the former and the bulkhead.  You probably can't even see it in these photos, minor stuff.
 
Slightly more alarming is the bow filler pieces.  It seems I over-shaped them before fitting, though I do not think I deviated from the markings on the pieces.  In any case, I made a tiny shim for each and the problem is now solved, as you can see in the abundance of clamps below.
 

 
My filler blocks were scavenged from scrap in the garage, cut on a band saw and then either sanded or shimmed with card for an exact fit.  You can see one section has a little bark, which is just an internal curiosity.
 

 
For the little platform, I chose to build it out before adding the stern bulkheads behind it.   This let me insert the planks from behind, keeping it very easy to apply the glue neatly.  I followed Chucks advice, simulated my tar with graphite and shipped the treenails and used minwax golden oak.  To add a little interest I give a few plants double or triple applications of the stain.
 

 
So, tonight I do another pass at fairing the hull shape and then move on to gunports!
 
James
 
 
 
 

Ed, it is never too late!
 
I think that the greatest joy of  a bigger scale, larger than 1/36
is the ease to hold small parts between your finger
 
Needing less concentration to hold the parts, you can concentrate more on the construction itself.
When you add these little details, the sum is close to the nirvana!
 
Also by magnifying the scale, you see bigger witout the trouble of wearing  magnifying glass. A bigger scale bring you closer  to the full scale.  Details are easier to see, you can introduce new details that smaller scale will not allow you.
 
What is mostly interesting a bigger scale allows you to think at scale 1-1. This is like opening new doors. One of the thing that you will see behind these doors is the joinery, you become more aware of how the wood parts would be assemble in real life.

I finished the 2nd long gun as well (see images below). I am quite happy now to move on to something else .
 
Thomas
 

Image 1
 
 

Image 2
 
 

Image 3

I tried various suggestions and still could not get a "clean" disc. Probably a skills issue.
So I ended up purchasing one from UMM.

 
This worked well right out of the box.  The disc is the largest size using .016" thick brass sheet. I am wondering how thick I can go.  I hesitate to experiment our of concern for damaging the die.  There is a maximum thickness that the slot would allow but that probably does not mean it is a good idea.
 
 
Richard

I tried various suggestions and still could not get a "clean" disc. Probably a skills issue.
So I ended up purchasing one from UMM.

 
This worked well right out of the box.  The disc is the largest size using .016" thick brass sheet. I am wondering how thick I can go.  I hesitate to experiment our of concern for damaging the die.  There is a maximum thickness that the slot would allow but that probably does not mean it is a good idea.
 
 
Richard

I tried various suggestions and still could not get a "clean" disc. Probably a skills issue.
So I ended up purchasing one from UMM.

 
This worked well right out of the box.  The disc is the largest size using .016" thick brass sheet. I am wondering how thick I can go.  I hesitate to experiment our of concern for damaging the die.  There is a maximum thickness that the slot would allow but that probably does not mean it is a good idea.
 
 
Richard

I tried various suggestions and still could not get a "clean" disc. Probably a skills issue.
So I ended up purchasing one from UMM.

 
This worked well right out of the box.  The disc is the largest size using .016" thick brass sheet. I am wondering how thick I can go.  I hesitate to experiment our of concern for damaging the die.  There is a maximum thickness that the slot would allow but that probably does not mean it is a good idea.
 
 
Richard

I also would like to keep the wood look.  I started experimenting with powdered water soluble dye. It adds the color but still leaves the wood grain.  I will experiment to see how dark I can go and still have the wood grain show.  
I also have ebony but until I get a worktable set up in my shed I hesitate to use it.
I will experiment more when I finish the belaying pins and move on to the cannon. 
 
Richard.

Jessie,
nice carronade.  
I am trying to turn the belaying pins and know how difficult that must be.  
Do you intend to paint and if so, what are you planning to use.?
 
Richard

I also would like to keep the wood look.  I started experimenting with powdered water soluble dye. It adds the color but still leaves the wood grain.  I will experiment to see how dark I can go and still have the wood grain show.  
I also have ebony but until I get a worktable set up in my shed I hesitate to use it.
I will experiment more when I finish the belaying pins and move on to the cannon. 
 
Richard.

I also would like to keep the wood look.  I started experimenting with powdered water soluble dye. It adds the color but still leaves the wood grain.  I will experiment to see how dark I can go and still have the wood grain show.  
I also have ebony but until I get a worktable set up in my shed I hesitate to use it.
I will experiment more when I finish the belaying pins and move on to the cannon. 
 
Richard.

I also would like to keep the wood look.  I started experimenting with powdered water soluble dye. It adds the color but still leaves the wood grain.  I will experiment to see how dark I can go and still have the wood grain show.  
I also have ebony but until I get a worktable set up in my shed I hesitate to use it.
I will experiment more when I finish the belaying pins and move on to the cannon. 
 
Richard.

Jessie,
nice carronade.  
I am trying to turn the belaying pins and know how difficult that must be.  
Do you intend to paint and if so, what are you planning to use.?
 
Richard

Jessie,
nice carronade.  
I am trying to turn the belaying pins and know how difficult that must be.  
Do you intend to paint and if so, what are you planning to use.?
 
Richard

Jessie,
nice carronade.  
I am trying to turn the belaying pins and know how difficult that must be.  
Do you intend to paint and if so, what are you planning to use.?
 
Richard

Hello,
thank you very much for the very nice comments and of course for all likes.
The installation of the gratings in the bow is finished.

Furthermore, I drilled holes for the nails on the planks. These holes are later filled with furniture wax.

Hello,
thanks for the very nice reactions.
Here is a small continuation:

Hello,
thanks to all for your great feedback.
This is pure motivation.
After a short break I do with the cutters on.
Among other things, I have the mast gate arrangements still make.
Look at the pictures:

 

 

 

 

Jessie,
nice carronade.  
I am trying to turn the belaying pins and know how difficult that must be.  
Do you intend to paint and if so, what are you planning to use.?
 
Richard

Sharp eyes, Elijah.  Thank you Johann.
 
I was able to finish up one of the cannon today.  Only seven more to go!
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

The rest of the cannon have been rigged and mounted!
 

 

 

 

Well, after starting to try wrapping with paper & CA, everyone was right. Way too much thickening required & I gave up on that idea. Thought I'd see how difficult turning Carronade barrels out of wood dowels would be. Held in a drill & using mostly files This is how the first one looks. This is somewhat difficult & time consuming for me but still much less time consuming than the paper & CA would be. I tried to use a pattern for shaping the whole barrel at one time cut into the side of a piece of metal but for some reason it wouldn't cut the wood. So I'm cutting each section with the files & modeling blades. Have actually got a second one turned & got them the same but wondering how difficult it will be to keep them consistent since there has to be 16 of them.
 
Jesse
 
 

I finished the first long gun – the second one is about one week behind . I followed the long gun design in Chuck’s Syren plans (with a few small changes) as basis for the build. Images 1, 2 and 3 show how the wheels and the axles were made. I glued 4 roughly square pieces of pear wood on a beech dowel (img 1a and 1b), turned them on the lathe to the required diameter, drilled the holes for axels and bolts (img 1c and 2a), and cut them apart with a little saw (img 2b). The finished wheels are shown in img 3a. Images 3b, c and d present how the axels were made and how the axels’ bearings were built by turning a brass tube down to the correct size. For stabilization a second tube was inserted during the lathe work.
 

Image 01
 

Image 02
 

Image 03
 
 
Images 4 and 5 show the making of the carriage parts. I glued 6 correctly sized pieces of pear wood together with a piece of paper between each pear wood layer (img 4a). The paper insures that the pear wood pieces can be separated from each other later on (img 5). The resulting block of layered pear wood was processed with mill, drill, and sanding wheel to arrive at the desired shape (image 5a). After painting the finished pieces the gun carriage was assembled on a jig (img 6b). The result is presented in image 7.  The finished gun can be seen in images 8 and 9. Image 10 shows the long gun in its place on the Syren.
 
Thomas
 

Image 04
 

Image 05
 

Image 06
 

Image 07
 

Image 08
 

Image 09
 

Image 10
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hello Richard,
Image 1a in the last sequence of images shows just one brass piece. I hope the images below make things a bit clearer. I selected a round brass dowel with diameter slightly larger than the largest diameter of the cannon barrel (image 1a). This dowel was then mounted on the lathe in a 4-jaw-chuck with individual jaw alignment (it allows for more precise centering than self-centering chucks) with a piece of the dowel about 1.3 times the cannon barrel length protruding out of the chuck. This piece was first turned to the largest cannon diameter (image 1b). By means of a cross sled I then tapered the piece by about 1.5˚ to give it its rough "cannon" shape (image 1c). This corresponds to what you have seen in my last image sequence as image 1a). After a lot of additional processing steps the major part of the barrel was finished but still part of the original brass dowel (image 2). As a final step it was cut off the dowel, turned around and mounted again in the lathe in order to finish the work on the front end of the cannon.
 
Please don't hesitate to ask questions if the process is not clear. In any case it is a lot of fun to make your own cannon barrels
  
Thomas
 

Image 1
 

Image 2

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 154 – Quarter Davits
 
It seems like a while since the last post.  Progress has been slowed by research, documentation and drafting for the rigging.  However, about a week ago the last of the four boats was completed and since then the quarter davits have been made and fitted.  The first picture shows the completed 22’ cutter that will be secured to the starboard davits.
 

 
The 6 sweeps were made from drawn bamboo flattened at one end.
 
The quarter davits were secured outside the hull just aft of the main channels.  The forward davits were supported by the channels.  The aft pair were held by iron brackets.  One of these and its bolt is shown in the next picture.
 

 
This is a top bracket – longer to account for the inward slope of the sides.  The lower brackets are shorter with a hole only in the top.  All were made from the brass rectangular section shown in the picture.  In the next picture a lower bracket is being installed.
 

 
The rails were mortised to fit these.  The next picture shows the top end of one of the davits in the lathe after cleanup of the solder and rounding of the top bearing.
 

 
The ends were fashioned by the method used for the poop handrail stanchions.  The next picture shows one of these shaped.
 

 
After cutting to size, this davit was fitted as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The next picture shows both starboard davits fitted with their hooks installed.
 

 
The last picture shows all four davits.
 

 
These will probably be blackened to simulate iron, but I have not decided.  They appear black in one of the photos.  I will probably put these into storage with the boat until later.  There is quite a bit of rigging to be installed along the rails that will best be done with maximum access.  The above picture shows a break in the belaying pins that extends almost the length of the boats.  Pins forward of the six at the forward end of the space will extend uninterrupted all the way to the cargo opening and virtually all will be used.  There were a lot of sails on one of these ships.  A half dozen square sails per mast, an equal number of studding sails on the forward masts, plus quite a few fore and aft sails.  While I do not intend to install sails, I do plan to install most of their rigging, excluding most of the studding sail rigging and other items like staysail sheets.  I expect access to be an issue.
 
Ed