rtropp

Hello Mark
 
Thank you!
This serial works must be done, but it`s never boring for me. It takes hours to produce all that stuff, but the original guns had it, so it must be there at the models.
 
And now to something completley different ...........................
 
Not only brass parts are done, some wodden things too are ready for the deck. First is the capstan, I used some "scrap" wood for that little thing. Spill 000 DANZIG.pdf Whoever wants to build it, please feel free to download the pdf file, it is in 1: 50 measure by printing out in original size.
 
Round turning of a piece of pear wood, also boxwood would be good for that.

 
After turning drill a hole over full length, I used a 3mm drill for that step, What the hole is needed for, will be shown a bit later.

 
All parts printed out from the pdf, and used as templates. The printouts were glude to wood in named thickness


 
All parts were cut out and grinded/sanded to their final shape


 
Lower parts assaebled


 
Thick upper disc mounted

 
The head disc with cutouts for inlay work, some of the inlays shown in second pic on right side


 
Inlays glued to disc, then sanded very careful. Inlays are just 1/10th mm thick


 
This was the first part for the capstan build, will be continued a bit later.............
 
Thanks for watching and your many likes
Regards
Gerhard
 
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 150 – Ship’s Boats 6
 
In addition to the workhorse longboat(s), clippers carried smaller boats for convenience and for the safety of the crews.  Government regulations had begun to exist to aid in crew and passenger safety.  A variety of different types and sizes were used and it is most likely that boats on a given ship varied over time.  With Young America’s long, 30 year career I am sure there were replacements. I am still pondering the fourth boat, but the third is to be a 25 foot clinker built cutter that will rest inverted on the skid beams outside the longboat on the starboard side.  It is likely that the fourth boat – to be suspended from quarter davits - will be a somewhat smaller cutter.  So, on to the first cutter.
 
In the first picture, the sheer line at the top of the side is being scribed into the partially shaped pine plug.
 

 
The boat pattern can be seen pasted to the block.  This initial shape was formed using the disk sander.  In the next picture the plug has been fully shaped and the area below the topside given a coat of white shellac, sanded and well waxed.
 

 
The frames being formed in this picture are slightly smaller than the longboat frames.  They too, are pear and were left in water overnight before being placed as shown above.  They were about as flexible as string.  The process being used is the same as for the longboats, but thanks to the learning curve, it is still evolving and becoming more efficient.  In the next picture planking is well along.
 

 
Planking began after both halves of all the frames shown were fitted over the plug, the keel assembly installed on them and the topside guide strip nailed over the frames as shown above.  Frames at the ends were added later.
 
The clinker planking requires more work and care than the carvel planking used on the longboats.  First, because the planking lines will be very pronounced even after painting.  Also, the upper edges of each plank need to be beveled to bed the next plank, working up from the bottom.  The next picture shows the first step in that beveling using a paring chisel.
 

 
On the carvel hulls the planks were tapered at the ends to provide fair lines and to conform to the contraction of the planked area at the ends.  The same was done here before beveling the planks as shown above.  After the paring step, a flat file was used to smooth out the bevels along the plank.  The next planks were then overlapped and glued to both the plank above and the frames.  The next picture shows the topside plank above the wale being installed against the guide strip.
 

 
The next picture shows the planking nearing completion.
 

 
In the next picture, the boat has been removed from the plug and some internal members have been added.
 

 
As with the longboats, except for the unplanked boat, the internals are simplified on these upside-down boats.  The last picture shows the cutter in its position on the skid beams.
 

 
In this picture the boat has been given a first coat of white shellac primer, to be followed by the white acrylic.  The wales on this boat – and the one at the top – will then be installed.  The two longboats can then be secured, but this cutter will be left loose to provide access for rigging on the rail below, if needed.
 
Ed

Thanks guys 
 
Greg,  that is a great place to start.  First the guns were airbrushed black using Badger Airbrush paint.   But just going with straight black is not good enough.  The guns and other metalwork needs to be different in appearance / texture than the wood elements painted black.  If for nothing else but to add some more interest.  Straight black is to harsh and leaves a lot to be desired.
 
You can go with a warm hue or a cool hue.  I decided on the warmer.  I then brushed on very sparingly some weathering powder.  The goal here isnt to make it look like a rusty heap.  Its just to change the surface appearance.  As quickly as it was applied with a soft brush it was buffed off almost entirely with the same soft brush.  It changes the color only slightly BUT it does also change the surface texture making it noticeably different than other black painted parts.  I use this technique on all of the "metal" parts on the model even if they arent made from metal.  It works quite well.  For the guns it really makes the reinforcing rings stand out as well as the other details.   But remember you have to buff it off.
 
Now I am not using these weathering powders for anything else....I have no intention of making the model look weathered.  In most cases where I see folks weathering .....it is over done and everything looks like a junk ship rusting out.  Its just too much.  But if used sparingly it can be very effective.  Just my opinion of course.
 
I use the MicraMark weathering powders and the set contains a small jar of Rusty brown and if you are going cooler you could use Grimy Gray or even a dark  blue.  All of the guns are completed with this technique below and waiting to be mounted on their carriages.   I store them like this until needed.   Now to build those carriages!!!
 

 

 
The same technique was used on the chainplates.  You can see how the powder makes the Black noticeably different than the painted wales.   Before the application it looked exactly the same.    Now its different but very subtle.  The key is NOT to over do it and get carried away.  
 

Thank you very much
 
I decided to make one carronade with all of the details.  This way I could find out what is in store for me.  Now I can more comfortably finish up the remaining 11 guns.
 
I will describe how with a step-by-step once I get started.  But for now..here is what the completed gun looks like.  I also finished making the belaying pins.  They were made from boxwood.  I dislike the brass belaying pins available because they are just the wrong proportions.  With only about 16 pins needed I decided to make my own.  If you are a heavy handed rigger....someone who likes to pull theit rigging lines super tight like a guitar string then you should probably stick to the brass.  Otherwise give this a try.
 
I just chucked up a thin boxwood strip in my dremel and went to work.  The same method was used to make the quoin handle for the carriages. Image is below.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Chuck
 
 

Thank you for the video. It will be very helpful
 
Richard

I have seen mills that have handles/levers to act like a drill press. Does the lever impact the precision of the mill?
 
Richard

Sal,
Very nice. its a pleasure to follow your build.
Richard

Sal,
Very nice. its a pleasure to follow your build.
Richard

Sal,
Very nice. its a pleasure to follow your build.
Richard

So we can go on, next photos are sorted out.
After building the stove i started with the cookhouse. I used 6 x 2 mm oakwood stripes, and glued them as walls together, the floor was made from the same material. 

 
The door- and windows frames were made for darker wood, that I had in stock from a former project.


 
Then the stove took place for a short test, space enough for the cook to walk around!

 
After that test I layed the clinker floor and wall into the house, what was a mistake at that time. The clinker photos I used was downloaded from Google search for "clinker floor", and resized to the correct measure.


 
As W. E.Falck told me in another forum, the walls were chalked white, so I had to remove everything, an painted the walls with white matt colour.


 
Even two lights were made, this will be shown in a next post.........

 
Best regards
Gerhard
 

Hello once more..............
As I wrote above, here comes the first part of the cookhouse. This will take longer than the things before, it was the largest part I made for the SMS Danzig until now. As KOCH 1895 wrote, the ship had no deckhouses exept the cookhouse, see the yellow marked part at the page from "Beiträge zur Geschichte"

First thing to do was the stove. As I mentioned in the first post this thread, there are no plans to get, so I had to build the stove first, and then the house around it. Plans for stoves are to find at the danish Rigsarkivet https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/billedviser?epid=4782656#189070,31896806,around 130 different plans there! This includes also distillery ovens, for the preparing of "fresh" water out of sea (salt) water.
 
Started with a sheet of 0,3mm brass, marked the different cutouts, and drilled a lot of holes

 
The recangular cutouts were filed to their final size, and the different parts soldered together

 
The basic body of the stove, the plans from the Rigsarkivet above, not shure what plan I took...............
(Sorry for my short brains !)

 
Different doors are soldered to the body


 
Baseplate and stands added

 
and finally all painted with black Revell paint, the paint was still wet as I took the picture, so it shines too much

 
Some pots and cans added, they are made from wood, the cans from boxwood, the rectangular pots from balsa. The handles are bended pieces from 0,3mm copper wire.

 
Regards & thanx for watching
Gerhard, have a nice day!
 
 
 
 
 

Just on the way.....................
Thank you all for watching, especially to Tadeus43: I plan to bring the model to Gdansk for the ships 170th anniversary, in late 2021, if I`m ready with the build! She MUST see "her own" water!
 
So, here comes the next parts of the capstan.
 
Head disc layed on top for a test

 
Now it comes to the center hole. A brass tube of 3 mm outer diameter is set into the hole, the tube must fit with strength, this is important for the next step! Upper end of the tube sits equal with head of the capstan without the head disc. No worry about the cleaves, they are hidden later with the head disc!


 
Capstan is clamped to the late`s chuck for a last grinding. This step gives the correct shape to the different discs, especially the lower disc must be a bit bevelled.


 
Now the head disc is glued to the capstan, the center hole is closed with a piece of  toothpick.

 
The next four pics show the former progress. I took stripes from black cardboard and glued them into the square holes




 
Also the iron rings around the head are made from cardboard.

 
Regards
Gehard

Fantastic work on the guns and capstan Gerhard and I love the veneer inlay work

Not a lot of pictures with this post, it’s getting hard to take a decent picture of all the rigging, I think I need a better back drop.
 
Most of the rigging for the main mast went according to the manual.  One thing I did different was when I installed the main topgallant and royal stays.  The manual had you installing the main topgallant and royal backstays first and then the stays but I found that when I applied the least bit of tension to the backstays there was a large deflection in the topgallant mast.  To help offset this deflection I installed the main topgallant and royal stays but only temporarily.  I ran the line from the main mast, through the block on the fore mast and down to the fore top and used an alligator clip to hold the end of the stay to the top.  This helped a lot keeping the topgallant from not moving to much while tying the backstays in place.
 

 
 
Another little deviation was while I was making the shrouds for the main mast I also made them for the fore mast.  I didn’t secure them at this time but just placed them in position on the mast heads and then draped them out of the way.   I did this before rigging the main topgallant and royal stays so I could make sure I got the blocks for these stays on the fore mast in their correct position, above the shroud gangs.  I'm hoping that's right, not doing this before it seems to make sense that they're above the shrouds.
 

 
I came into possession of some extra 2.5 mm deadeyes so I thought I would try making my own bullseyes for the stays.  I have to admit trying to drill out a deadeye is not the easiest thing to do, but with patience it can be done.  These were seized to the ends of the main topgallant and royal stays and then the lanyard was run through the bullseye and eyebolt on the fore top. 
 
 

Ed,
At what point in this build did the first Young America  book end?
 
Thanks
Richard

A minor update, model wise.  A biggie for me.      The stern is more or less complete.  It still needs the carvings and the taffrail needs the finials but those are in-work and may be that way for some time as I move on to other things.   I carve while waiting for glue to dry, etc.
 
I was playing with the camera and some settings... here's the inboard side of the stern unplanked and then planked in silver maple.  I'm using the maple where things would have been white-washed.  The planked version also shows part of the taffrail installed.
 

 
From the outboard side with part taffrail installed.
 

 
This is the two other pieces of the taffrail on the scroll saw using the ScrollSander to clean off the laser char and finesse the fit.  The final finessing was using a file and sanding sticks.
 

 
And with the full taffrail installed.  It needs a bit of cleanup and some wipe-on poly, but I'll that when get the carvings ready.  The quarter galleries need to be built also before finishing.  It's a  bit off (about 1mm on the port side) but I'll live with it.  
 

 
All in all, I'm pretty chuffed about this as it was a big learning curve.  I wanted the joinery perfect.. not quite there yet but to my eye, it looks good.  Next up is the rudder while I sort out the quarter galleries.  These have a bit of unusual shape in that they curve out past the stern and then back to the hull, like a half circle only not...  Hard to explain but I'm researching and sorting it out.
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 148 – Ship’s Boats 4
 
The last picture in Part 147 showed the top plank being glued on to longboat 1 with the channel wale inserted to provide a space for its later installation.  In the first picture the wale has been removed.
 

 
The frames may now be cut down to the top of the side and the boat removed from the plug.  The next picture shows the keelson being glued to the tops of the frame floors.
 

 
The longboats were pretty heavily constructed.  They were working boats that carried supplies or cargo and sometimes even an anchor. Ceiling stringers at the turn of the bilge can be seen in this picture as well as clamps to support the seats.  In the next picture a clamp at the wale height is being glued in after installation of the seats. 
 

 
I tried not to fuss too much with this interior work because the boats will be fixed to the skid beams inverted roughly in the position shown in the next picture.
 

 
The 25’ cutters were secured just outside of the longboats. I expect to tie down spare spars and lower studding sail booms between the longboats.  In this picture the outer planking of longboat 1 has been given a coat of white shellac as a sealer and that has been sanded smooth.  There will be a second shellac seal coat and sanding before the final white gloss acrylic finish.  The channel wales will be the same blue as the cabin roof.
 
All the pin rails visible in this picture have been fitted with their pins.  The blue masking tape was applied to stop the dropping of belaying pins into the hold.  In the next picture both the boat and the two wales have been painted and are ready for final assembly.
 

 
The last picture shows the boat placed on the skid beams.
 

 
Rudder hinges are still required.  Boats were also required to have the ship’s name lettered on the transom and bow.  This may be more than I can manage, but we’ll see.
 
Before mounting the boats I need to check for rigging clearance between the outer boats and the pin rail.  I believe all the lines that belay in the way of the boats go through shroud fairleads so there should be no problem, but it is worth a check.  It may be best to avoid securing these boats until rigging has been belayed below the boats.
 
Ed

I just learned the 400 pages of the booklet to drive the drone as on the first picture.
The other pictures are the result of the camera on board.

Thanks George, captgino, Elijah, Thomas, Sal, Grant, Ken & Piet - & thanks for all the likes also.
 
I added all the inboard eyebolts & cleats before putting in the swivel brackets. I started with the supplied brass eyebolts. I don't have any brass blackening solution right now so I tried painting the brass with Testor's flat black enamel paint. This doesn't always work well. I found that I was constantly having to repaint any eyebolts that got rubbed or touched & then the paint build up was too much. Got tired of this so I ripped all of them out & made my own eyebolts out of black wire I have.  I like that no painting is needed & the eyebolts are a little stronger than thin gauge brass but I could not get them as small as the brass ones were. I fear they will look too much out of scale (a little too big) but it's the best I can do at the moment.
 
I used the metal cleats supplied in the kit - had to clean them up a lot & added wire pins in the larger ones because they had none. the instructions say to paint them red , black or to look like wood. I see that most everybody else who have done the Syren have gone with red but I decided on black instead (don't know why- just did for some reason).
 
When I went to start on the swivel brackets I realized my gun port sides needed squaring up better. Hit them with a mini flat file for a quick & easy fix. The swivel brackets sit slightly above the deck & I had a hard time getting such a narrow edge to stay glued securely so I secretly hid small blocks up under them that the sit on but are not seen. They are more securely attached now.
 
While working on the inboard stuff I managed to break one of the bumpkins & looking around I noticed I had broken off & lost the stern port lids & a few of the other gun port lids. I think it might have been better if the instructions would tell you to do the inboard work first & then a lot of the outer work but maybe I'm just too clumsy?
 
Jesse
 
 

Thanks for all the positive feedback & all the likes.
 
I made the top rails out of the same mystery wood & scrolled them the same way. The instructions say to drill the holes for the stanchions part way through the bottom of the top rails then glue wire stanchions (left a little long) in top rail holes, dry fit & measure wires against upper head rails to mark hole positions & get wire lengths. Drill holes half way into top side of upper head rails, clip wires off to right length & assemble all this. I found it easier to glue top rail on then drill from underneath straight through the upper head rails  up into the bottom side of the top rails.  I cut the stanchions to the correct lengths, pushed them up into the holes& glued them. Filled the holes left on the bottoms of the upper head rails with glue & sawdust mix. Worked very well & hardly shows at all. Then made the bumpkins & glued them on. Pinned them with small wires to hold better
 
Jesse
 
 

Thanks guys. It is something that I live with every day & will the rest of my life. A good day for me would be a sick day for an average person. I do what I can as best I can but when I have the bad spells it real tough. Anyway, progress on the rudder coat. Made a ? bracket/plate? (not sure what this thing is called). Tried to make it out of wood first but it kept breaking so I bent & hammered a brass wire flat to form it. Did a lot of filing to shape it & dilled holes for brass nails
 
Jesse
 
 

This took several do-overs before I got it to look & fit right. During this process one night our cat decided she wanted to lay as close to me as possible. She jumps up on the bench, steps over the ship as I'm working on it & lays down right behind it. I picked her up & put her on the floor. She jumps right back up & lays her head down. I am getting soft as I get older. In my younger days this would have resulted in the cat getting a flying lesson. I gave in & left her there & worked around her the best I could since I wasn't going to work on it much longer anyway.
 
Jesse
 
 

Been struggling to get much done. My illness has been acting up lately leaving me feeling pretty bad about 2/3 of the time making building difficult. I was about to start on the swivel brackets & pin rails. Looking at some others Syren build logs I see rudder coats being added. I tried to look up whether there was one on the Syren & found no info at all but I like what I see on the other builds so I decided I would do one too. I made a jig for making it off ship. Used an old bandana my daughter had thrown out. It will be painted black when done so it doesn't matter that it is pink right now. Began the process of trying to figure this out.... 
 
Jesse

Look down, look down
Don't look 'em in the eye
Look down, look down,
You're here until you die 1….. started the rat lines
 
It was slow at first but once I got the hang of it they moved along quite nicely just very tedious.  I used a card with lines on it to help me space the lines which I found to be helpful in a few ways.  First it helped keep the lines level and spaced evenly, secondly I found it useful to hold the end of the thread in place while I thread it behind the shroud and lastly, for me anyway, it helped me see the thread.  I spaced the lines a little closer than ¼”, 0.22 to be exact, which is closer to what’s shown on the drawing.  The futtock shrouds were done the same way.
 


 
The topmast shrouds and rat lines were done next and similar to the lower mast.
 
 

 
I splurged a bit and decided to buy some 5mm cleats from the Syren Model Co. instead of using the supplied metal ones.  These were tied to the shrouds as instructed.  The sister blocks were tied to the futtock shrouds as was the catharpin.
 
 


 
 
1. Les Miserables cast lyrics

As I had mentioned earlier in one of my posts I had won a small serving machine at the Northeast Ship Model Conference last April so I thought I would use it for some of the standing rigging.  The lower pendants were done first by serving two separate pieces of rigging, forming the eye at one end of each piece and then seizing the two pieces together around the mast head.
 

Next I did the lower main shrouds.  Only the foremost shroud on either side of the main mast was served in its entirety, all the others were served only where they wrapped around the mast head.  I’m glad I did this because, imo, it does look impressive.  The only problem I have with it is the black thread on the black mast, it’s very hard to see.  I think the next time I’ll paint the mast head white.
 

 
For tying the shrouds around the deadeyes I used a technique for holding them in position that I read about in Brian’s (GuntherMT) AVS build. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/8085-armed-virginia-sloop-by-gunthermt-model-shipways-scale-148-complete/?p=340205   I did make one change however, instead of just drawing a line to mark the location of the deadeyes I made a copy of the plans showing them and pasted it to the piece of wood.  The deadeyes were then pinned in place in their correct orientation.  The below picture is the fore mast but I did the same for the main mast but didn't take a picture.
 
 

 
After the shrouds the main stay and preventer stay were done.  The portion of the stays that wrap around the mast head were served including the mouse.  To make the mouse I use a 5/64” diameter dowel, first I drilled a hole in it, then used a pencil sharpener to get its basis shape and then used a file to round off the back after cutting it of the dowel.