Der Alte Rentner

Flawed as the Practicum sometimes is, without it, and the build log data base here at the site, I would not even have attempted the Conny build. Glad to have the company! I have maybe another week of diversions to attend to before I return to the shipyard.

That makes perfect sense (5mm planks). I wish I'd thought of it, but I think I'm committed to the 3/64" (1.19 mm) planks now that I've started. And I agree that it's a good idea to add the counter extensions earlier than later for exactly that reason. Thank you.

Makes me feel better to know that. I've been sidelined with two projects that need to be done before I can return to the shipyard. While I may not achieve your exemplary results, I will follow your example and adopt a relaxed pace. Thanks for the inspiration.

I noticed that the width of the planking seems to be substantially wider then the 1/8" slats provided with my kit. Where I use four strips around the lower gun ports, you're only using three. I'm not a stickler for exacting detail, but wonder about your thinking here. And I'll repeat the question asked by scrubbyj427. Do you plan to paint? I'd like to avoid this, but the replacement stock of 1/8" x 3/64" and 3/32" x 3/64" material is decidedly darker than the basswood stock I've used so far. I don't want the ship to look like a random kaleidoscope, and am still considering options. Maybe stain to a uniform-ish shade of light brown? (Sorry, just thinking aloud). Also, you've done something I've been wondering about with regards to planking the hull first - as prescribed in the Practicum, or adding the counter extension first. I look forward to borrowing from you going forward. Great work!

Night owl much? "Three hours ago" places your post at 2:20 am. I'm very nearby your shipyard, and up early for the rest of my drive to Lost Wages. Looking forward to seeing your jig, which, if successful, will likely be borrowed... Best

Thanks. Coming from you, I take that as a complement. I'm watching your build with equal interest.

Last post until I get back to the shipyard in mid October. I forgot to upload the process I used to plank around the lower gun ports. Pretty much done on the Starboard planking around the lower gunports. . As mentioned previously, I'm going to do the port side differently. Stay tuned. I'm back in the shipyard.

I posted a couple of days ago and the details are there. I responded separately to your two side bar messages. Looking forward to seeing your progress on Conny version 2.

Thanks, but not necessary. I'm using the ones that came with the Constructo kit.

The lions heads that came with the constructo kit will indeed be used. As might the dummy cannons. The quality of the MS is not great - too much filing involved to get these looking clean, or to get the inside end round. Granted, I'll have to make plugs for the backs, but much less work in that than countless hours with a file. Thanks again.

2023 Oct 02 Cathead catastrophe resolved, outer plank sheer installed, and starboard lower gun ports framed. To continue on with the catheads.. I broke out my new Proxxon mini milling machine. I practiced setting up for, drilling the three holes, and cutting out the slots for the simulated sheaves at the end of the catheads. I didn’t have a small enough milling bit for the slots to match the holes but have one on order. Now that I know how to do it, when the cutter arrives, I should get excellent results.\ The mill is a pretty cool tool and working with it takes me back to my apprentice tool and die days under the tutelage of my Uncle Karl. This milling machine has the potential to make easy work out of some of the fabrication required later in the build. I moved on to adding the outer plank sheer. This was relatively straight forward. I followed the Practicum’s directions to get this done. Photos on next page are of the milling machine and the experimental cathead drilling and slot cutting. And one of the hull with the plank sheer almost completed. Next up: the lower gun ports… I spent a lot of time scratching my head over the method outlined by Bob Hunt. This business of marking the location of the top of the upper sill by using four 1/8” x 3/64” planks, then adding a 1/32” to leave room to glue in the gunport covers seemed silly. Now, maybe Bob had the same problem I had. Model Shipways planks in this dimension were woefully misshapen. The widths varied from as little as 3/32” to as much as 9/64”. My first thought was that using this method of holding four planks in place to make marks on the bulkheads solved the problem of inconsistently dimensioned planks. Not so! One would have to hold in reserve all the plank segments used for marking and glue these in exactly where they were used to make the marks. Furthermore, how accurately can anyone actually mark that second line 1/32” below the first? I didn’t see the sense in this. Instead, I ran to Ace Hardware to buy some 1/8” square basswood strips. Kudo’s to Ace Hardware’s supplier. The dimensions on every piece was spot on! I milled this down to 3/64” using my thickness drum sander. I was concerned that this might be too thin to do successfully on the Jet but was very pleasantly surprised. I made enough to get me through the planking above, beside and below the gunports. Replacement strips were ordered at Modelers Sawmill, but this wouldn’t have arrived for a couple of weeks, hence the DIY project. Now that I knew I would have consistent stock, I went to work on making spacers to facilitate the installation of the sills – upper and lower, as well as the vertical frame members. Bob Hunt’s Practicum instructs installing the upper sill, then planking to that sill. Why? I decided to do both sills, side frames and false cannon backs at the same time. To aid in coming up with the proper dimensions for the spacers, I made a large scale drawing of a gunport frame. My initial cocktail napkin math conflicted with Bob in the matter of locating the position of the lower sill. My drawing and subsequent test fitting of the gunport components confirmed my math. The distance between sills is 7/16” not 13/32”. See drawing below. ( This confirms my dimensions. There’s exactly 1/32” on all four sides of the gun port covers, where the covers will be glued to the sills and frames.) Given the curved nature of the hull, almost none of the sill ends could be cut at 90 degrees. So, measuring the angles where the sills met the bulkheads was required. \ I may have goofed in the way I installed the sills and vertical frames. Looking at the plans, I realized that the false cannon backs needed to be perpendicular to the wide surfaces of the sills. To accommodate this, I attached spacers to the forward face of the false cannon backs. How thick did the spacers need to be? The same thickness as the overhang of the vertical frames at the upper sill. Difficult to describe. ( Two spacers required for false cannon back to compensate for the overhang in the front that will be trimmed away in the hull fairing process..) There was a lot of going back and forth to the plans to find the locations of the vertical frames. Several of the false cannon backs had to be trimmed because the gunport itself was up against a bulkhead. After installing sills, frames and cannon backs, the overhangs needed to be trimmed and faired before planking can happen. How did Bob do this with planks already glued in and finished? Before moving to the port side, I'll plank the starboard side, but that's for another day. This is how I chose to deal with the gun port at the bow.

Beautiful workmanship!

I'm so sorry to hear that. On the other hand, given ALL the tweaking I've had to do to those laser-cut bulkheads, I too have contemplating a restart. I'm progressing on the lower gun ports, and so far so good. This is however very time consuming and I won't post pictures until at least the entire starboard side is finished. One question/observation for you Woodartist: if you're going with the Bob Hunt Practicum, and using dunny cannons, I would suggest scrapping the elaborate construction of the lower gun ports and going instead with filler blocks between the bulkheads. These would be easily shaped to confirm with the hull shape. Mounting dummy cannons would really only require drilling well positioned holes. Adding the (closed) gun port covers should then be a snap.. Stupidly, I did not take thus approach on the starboard side, but will reevaluate when doing the port side. What ever you do, be wary of Hunt's dimensions. It should take you a while to get to the lower gun ports. By then I will have posted my commentary along with what I think are the right dimensions for positioning the sills. Lastly, remember that Bob's waterways don't conform to the plan. This is not too critical, but should be considered when adding the catheads. If you plan to cut the waterway to fit the catheads, instead of shaping the catheads to fit the waterway, then it doesn't really matter if you go with the Practicum's instructions. Best of luck to you.

My browser strikes out on any search for Model Shipways. Instead, one is directed to Model Expo, where I purchased the kit. I've tried calling that number, but it goes straight to voicemail, which then instructs you to send an email, which in turn is never responded to. I didn't think my thickness drum sander was capable of sanding down to 3/64", but it works beautifully, so I took Ace Hardware 1/8" x 1/16" stock basswood and worked it down to 1/8" x 3/64" planks. Any basswood strips I've gotten at Ace have been spot on dimensionally. So, my work around for the miserablely made stock in the kit will be to find the nearest size standard stock at Ace and sand it to the dimensions I need. As for the Byrnes Saw, they seem to only be available through e-bay - at a price. Byrnes itself i on "temporary" hiatus. Given the plethora of woodworking gear I have, I can probably make due without it. BTW, the MicroLux miniature table saw is useless. Thanks for the feedback. Best Peter

Jon, I reached out to Model Expo for replacement planking stock. They don't seem to want to reply. I tried a Google search for Model Shipways and haven't found any contact information. Do you have a web link for Model Shipways? or a phone number? Thanks Peter

In case you're still occasionally checking in... I'm at this stage in the Practicum (framing lower gun ports) and was considering the same technique you used here. If the stock that came with my kit was consistently 1/8" wide, then this should work nicely. My stock varies as much as 1/64" and I need to source (or figure out how to fabricate my own) 1/8" x 3/64" plank stock. I noticed that the text in the quote above disagrees with the photo that follows. 9/32" vs 17/32". I assume the photograph of the spacer has the correct dimension marked on it. Since you used Bob Hunt's Practicum, and did such a nice job, I plan to touch base here anytime I run into issues - which seems to be fairly frequently. Thanks for keeping the build log at MSW for us newbies to follow.

Jon, while whiling away some time in a hotel room in Pittsburgh, I did a search at MSW on "lion head", thinking I would find more easily find the references you cited earlier. That led me to a hit in Rich's (Hipexec) build log of his Constructo kit. When I return, I'll check to see if my copy of that kit has the lion head sculpture that Rich mounted to his cathead. If so, I'll see if I can get away using it, the difference being model scale sizes. Who knows, it might be close enough, and I'll get some value out of the unused kit.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll order today Best Peter

Wow. Taking out bulkhead A after you've installed the bow filler, timberhead and frames? I can't imagine what kind of issues with the bowsprit could cause this much rework. I'm really interested to see those pictures when they materialize.

I'm leaving town in a few minutes and will be off line until late next week. As for the carving, I'll look again at Tom and Ken's logs for inspiration and tips. There's no immediate rush on that, since my catheads can slide into and out of the openings in the hull. But, can anyone recommend a good source for 3/64" x 3/32" and 3/64" x 1/8" stock? The materials I received in the kit are woefully misshapen. Their widths can vary by as much as 1/16". I have to measure every strip at 4 or five locations to see if I can find a piece that has a uniform width. For the procedure Bob Hunt recommends for installing the lower gun port frames, a consistent 1/8" width would be great. I do have a work around using his technique in a round about way, by cutting and temporarily fitting four planks at a time to get the correct marks on the bulkheads, installing a gun port then moving forward to do the next section. But I would prefer to cut one piece of thin wood 17/32" wide to use as a marking tool and have rock solid 1/8" stock to make this process happen more quickly. ..and yes, I have contacted Model Expo to ask about this. I have yet to get a reply. see you in a week.

I can definitely relate!

Perhaps Unegawahya might consider opening up a small fabrication plant? Supply ship's wheels, lion head carvings, and all manner of miniature components that those of us with failing eyesight and shaky hands could use. Heck, I'd pay for long boats too Jon! Jon, I did find that Ali Express site after posting earlier. I wasn't keen on using my credit card at the site, but if you had a satisfactory transaction there, I'll give that a try, after I get back from a road trip that's going to sideline me for about a week. Unegawahya, I simply marvel at the quality of your carving. Given that I just spent two hours dialing in my Proxon Micro Mill to cut the slots in a practice cathead, I'm probably just stubborn enough to attempt carving the lion's head too. I would reference one of the actual photos though, because you're right about the drawings in the plan being useless. On the milling adventure for those slots? Pretty good results, but I wish I had a smaller than 1mm mill - struck out on a search for such however. I did get very even cuts, but they appear to be too close together. To Jon's point, from a distance no one's going to notice it. Thank you both for your feedback.

where did you get the lion head carving? I searched online and drew a blank. I don't see one in the kit either. Thanks for providing those pictures. I have a much better idea of what to do with the cathead now, which is basically - wait until I need to deal with the rigging, because I can get mine in and out of the opening in the bulwarks fairly easily. For now, I will drill the holes and mill the channels between them, then move on to the lower gunport framing. thanks again Peter

Sorry Unegawahya, I don't know how the dialog between me and JS Gerson ended up in your build log. This site can at times be confusing (at least for me).

Thanks Jon. I was at the shop (excuse me, shipyard) yesterday installing the outer plank sheer. Since I had already planked the upper gun ports and needed to perform minor surgery to fit the catheads, I think I'm good. They can be installed later. I did reshape the catheads a bit so the inner ends end closer to the waterway, so they look closer to the way they do now on the original. Your decision to add the hardware, fittings and rigging seems like the right way to go. So, my next task will be exactly that, starting with setting up my little mill so I can carve out the troughs between the holes for the "simulated sheaves". Thanks again,