Greg Davis

The yards are now completed, the last steps were to add the rope bindings and then to varnish them. The bowsprit is attached to the hull as are the masts. Here I have tried to get an idea of what the ship may look like when completed. 

It is now time to get this vessel rigged!

I made the pieces for the mizzen yard today, as well as the bowsprit. The six yard parts were soaked for about 45 min and have been formed into their respective curves. Currently they are drying over the provided template and being held in place by finishing nails (to big a job for pins). I expect that by tomorrow the wood will have dried and that I will be able to glue the three pairs of pieces together. Here is a picture of the yard pieces as they are this evening (as well as the bowsprit). 

P.S. the nails are driven into wood under the cork. This work is being done on a building board I had made for a different project where I could hold pieces by inserting pushpins into the cork.

While I wait for primer on the exterior of the ship's boat to get really dry, I have started to work on the yards. At this point I have the pieces for the main and fore yards completed. Each yard is made from two 5mm dowels. The lower portion of the yard has a conical end and a pair of slots for rigging. This piece is not tapered, but does have one side flattened leaving the piece 4mm thick. I cut the flat by passing the dowel thru my Byrnes table saw. The end of the cut was then squared up with a chisel. The groves were also formed on the table saw by repeated passages and rotation of the dowel. Finally the tip was sanded to the desired conical shape. The upper part of the yard is tapered at the extreme end to 2.5mm and the rest of the piece has also been flattened to match the lower piece. 

The pieces will later be glued together along the flattened edges. Here the main mast components are set together along their flattened edges. They will be glued together over a curved pattern provided in the kit's set of plans. To be safe, I think it may be a good idea to soak the pieces and fasten them over the plans and let them dry to help form the shape before gluing them together - the dowels are pretty strong and I'm not sure how well they will keep their shape without a bit of coaxing. 

The mizzen yard will be constructed in a similar fashion using smaller diameter dowels. 

I've spent the last couple of days working on the ship's boat. The provided hull is metal and it has been challenging (for me) to get it painted similar to the wooden parts. It has gone thru quite a few color changes to get to the point that I was willing to start adding the wooden parts. It still looks painted, but is now in a state that I am not ashamed to put it on the ship! The paints are from some of the wood effect collections that Vallejo makes. I have yet to paint the exterior of the boat. I thought it best to wait until the interior was completed as I am having to handle the boat quite a bit at this point.

Amongst other details, I've added a number of balusters - 6 on the quarterdeck to support falconets on the quarterdeck, and a pair to aid in anchor stowage. The raptor figurine has been added to the front - it is painted a blackish color to match the other decorations on the ship with the exception of the eyes that are now red. However, the most noticeable piece of work is that the three masts have been cut to their final heights and have been tapered. A few holes need to be drilled and a couple of accessories need to be added to the mast before they are affixed permanently and some rigging can be added. I should probably get the bowsprit made up soon.

The last major piece of construction will be the three yards. They look to be a bit of a challenge. Each is made from two tapered dowels. The dowels also need to be flattened on one side to form a stronger joint where they overlap. Besides creating a longer yard, the overlapping joint will also be instrumental in maintaining the curved shape of each completed yard.

A little more progress on the deck. Cannon carriages are in place, the companionway is done (doors face aft), quarterdeck rail is attached (the pillars are pinned and glued), and cleats have been added. At this point I am thinking the model will be fairly minimalistic and that I will not be rigging the carriages - but that might change down the road!

A bit more work to do and it will be time to work on the masting and rigging.

The rudder is attached and the mast blanks fit correctly.

Planning to work on the deck furniture / details before shaping the masts and preparing for rigging the vessel.

10 hours ago, catopower said:

Beautiful work Greg! I'm just catching up on this project now.

 

Sorry to hear about your missing wreath and the thing about Ages of Sail and the cost of shipping. I do some work for them and apparently, they got tired of people ordering one or two parts and being told that the item that was mailed out in an envelope never arrived. So, they only use tracked shipping methods now. Sucks when you only want a 60 cent part, I know. 

 

I'll point out your comment to the staff, so they realize it's actually a problem.

 

Anyway, very inspirational model!

Thank you for the supportive comments!

I had not really thought about the fact that there could be some 'abusive nature' when it comes to requesting spare / replacement parts. This also got me thinking about the time commitment that Ages of Sail employees need to use while filling the request. So maybe the cost of an envelope and stamp is asking too much, but perhaps a middle ground could be worked toward - especially for people that don't seem to be offenders of the system. Quite frankly, I would never of placed the AoS order if Amati would have had a response system indicating that they could/would send the part!

Greg

The capping rails went in without too much difficulty. The rails for the quarter deck were a bit short, so I created small extensions from scrap wood. Not an issue for me, just cut up a bit of wood to the correct size on my Byrnes saw ... I can see how this would be a bigger concern for a person that hadn't been making a few models and/or had limited tools. Next I went to work on the quarterdeck rail ornamentation. This was something I really wasn't looking forward to, but I think it came out nice. 

I went with a dark motif unlike the bright yellow shown in the instruction manual. I tried to use blackening solution on these ornaments, but surprisingly it did nothing in terms of color change. So I mixed some flat black and gun metal paint together and got a nice look, very much like wrought-iron. The stern decoration has also been painted this color and it blends into the blue background quite well.

I also have attached the head rails.

The rudder may come next. 

A couple days ago, I got the gunport wreaths that I had paid for. Blackened and attached the missing one to the hull and glued on the two additional lines of the half-round wales to the port side. 

Oar ports came next - 9 to a side. It took a lot longer than I expected to open all of these ports with a file. Once that was completed, a few rigging related holes were drilled thru the hull. Finally I painted the inside edges of the gunports and oar ports to match the inner bulwalk color. 

I believe that installation of the capping rail will come next.

I'm waiting for the more expensive wreaths from Ages of Sail to fill in the missing wreath. For some unknown reason, I am resistant to opening the package of 14 wreaths that Amati sent me!

In the meantime, I've attached 6 wreaths to the port side and started to work on the deck furniture. I've removed a good deal of laser residue and fabricated the cross-beams to this substantial structure that surrounds the main mast:

It looks like I need to do a little more shaping before gluing these pieces together. There are also 4 cleats that attached to the sides before it is done. I wish I knew if the structure actually has a name or if it is simply a significant structure for belaying lines to. Either way, it will be an impressive addition to the deck.

All of the cross braces are in place. A nose cone has been shaped as well - I may try to make this a little more pointed later.

It's now a little later. After looking more at the above picture, I really started to feel the nose was too blunt. So with a sanding stick back in my hand, I've tried to make the transition more smooth. I'm good with this (for now)!

Today I finished adding the metal fasteners. I decided to use 22 gauge copper for them. I also started adding the cross braces; they are being made from 0.015" piano wire.

Today I received a package from Amati containing not 1 but a full set of 14 gunport wreaths - a big thanks to them!

I just wish that I they had sent a note that the parts were going to be sent. Sunday night I had broke down and ordered a several wreaths from Ages of Sail; the bill came to over $15 and the product has already been shipped so no going back on that order.

Now I will have enough to build another copy of the boat!

2 hours ago, Wawona59 said:

Beautiful work Greg.  I have this kit as a "someday" project.  Your build log was very well done and extremely helpful.  I'll have to check my kit for missing parts and request them now before I start building it.  This looks like a more challenging kit than I imagined.  Hopefully ME has been able to resolve this supplier issue.

 

One nit-picky question; did you intend to hang your 14-bis flying into the corner of your office?  Perhaps to show off the engine and prop?  As I recall the 14-bis was a pusher configuration with the wings in the back.  It looks like a more conventional aircraft the way you hung it though.  Regardless, you've made I beautiful model and I'm impressed with your craftsmanship and representation of the bamboo.

Thanks for checking this out and I hope you have a good result with your 14bis!

I did intentionally fly it into the corner. Because of its triangular shape it 'fits' better this way. Everyone that sees it then gets 'educated' about what is front and what is back on this bird.

My e-mail to Amati has gone unanswered; however, I have found that Ages of Sail has the part in stock. One of these pieces costs $0.58 - but they want a minimum of $13.45 to send it to me from California. Sort of crazy for a part that go in an envelope with a single stamp!

Today I cut out the alignment dowel and the hoop forms. Removing the solid disks required making three or four radial cuts from the dowel hole to the hoop. Once the cuts were made, I cut remove each sector of the disc in turn. I think that there were only two disks that easily came out whole. So here is where the project is now:

Next will be to add some metal fasteners thru the stringers and into the hoops. The wire cross braces will then follow. Holes have been drilled for these details already.

I've attached all four stringers to the pontoon hoops and released the whole structure from the jig.

Before I remove the solid discs inside the hoops I plan to drill holes for 'bolts' that connect the stringers and hoop, as well as for the support cross-wires. I suspect the cross-wires are actually bicycle spokes so that they could be tensioned.

17 hours ago, iMustBeCrazy said:

Another enlargement:

 

Santos_Dumont_N-18g.zip 4.81 MB · 2 downloads

 

It looks like the front foil (and I think the back) had suspension:

 

This is so helpful!

Yes, there is suspension for both hydrofoils. I sometimes have an orientation problem on how they work and need to remind myself that it is the top brackets that are connected to the hydrofoil support post, and this is what moves to stretch the bungie cord suspension. 

2 hours ago, iMustBeCrazy said:

This enlargement might help.

 

SD 18-cleargc.zip 13.58 MB · 3 downloads

Wow - this is such a great picture! Thank you so much for sharing!

Greg

13 hours ago, AON said:

do the extreme ends need to be tapered like staves on a barrel?

I'm not sure how the extreme ends of the pontoons and nacelles were finished. I think that in the picture that Craig shows above, the four stringers are being held in position by an external band. I can't tell if the band / hoop is wood or metal. I also have wondered if this fastener is temporary or if it is permanent. Eventually I concluded that it is temporary. When looking at a pictures of the finished pontoon it doesn't appear as a bump under the covering. Clearly, the finished pontoon comes to a fine pointed end; one that is strong enough to support a metal collar used for rigging the boat. It is doubtful to me that the stringers would be shaped to such a point, but perhaps there is additional wood attached / interfaced with the stringers, such as a solid wooden cone. Currently, I have been planning on introducing something along these lines for the ends of the pontoon / nacelles. I know that it would be purely conjectural in nature and if more historical information was located it could be modified to match without too much difficulty. 

Related, here's a picture of the pontoon construction before the band was connected to the structure. Henrique Lins de Barros shared this picture with me, it is part of his personal collection and is one that I have not seen using internet searches. If I interpret Alan's last comment correctly, I agree that this is a machine with a bit if a fragile structure! But Santos-Dumont had a lot of experience building skeletal frames for his machines that were minimal yet strong enough for the task at hand. I also imagine that the covering together with the inflation of such made a pretty strong machine and helped define the pontoons envelope. On the other hand, the wooden structure needed to be strong enough to hold the engine, propeller, etc. in place! 

I've milled the 4 longitudinal stringers. The top and bottom stringers are 2mm x 3mm in cross-section and will be positioned so that a 2mm side meets the hoops. The side stringers, which are being attached first, are 1.5mm x 3mm with a 3mm side joining with the hoops. 

The starboard side is coming along nicely. The new file arrived and let me open the gunports to nearly their final diameter. At this point I attached the gunport wreaths, which are pressed from brass, after they had been chemically blackened. Once that was done, the second half-round molding / wale was added using the wreaths to space the work. Finally, the lower molding was glued leaving a 5mm gap to the one in the middle. 

Just a note - the kit came with 6 pieces of half-round material for the moldings; two pieces were shorter than the others. The short ones are just long enough to be used for the lower molding / wale. I didn't see anything in the instructions pointing this out. I am glad I pulled all 6 pieces from the wood bundle and made the observation before accidentally using a long piece for the lower molding on this side. 

Now to the port side where I have a bit of a problem - it seems that I was provided with 13 gunport wreaths; i.e. 1 short of the needed 14. I've sent an inquiry to Amati asking if they can send me a replacement. I'm not sure how long to wait for a response before having to solve the problem on my own. I'd certainly like all 14 to match exactly but I can see that there is a good possibility that I will need to fashion the missing one myself. 

Jig is done and the main pontoon is ready for the addition of longitudinal stringers. I added a bunch of hooks that let me place rubber bands over the axial dowel. This keeps the hoops snugly in place / aligned on the jig. I've also waxed the top of each support where the stringers will be attached so that there is less of a chance of getting the structure stuck to the supports. I plan on installing the side stringers first. Because of how the supports were fashioned the stringers will lie on top of each support when being attached to the hoops. Once they are in place, the rubber bands will be removed and the pontoon will be turned 90 degrees so that the top and bottom stringers can be added. Slots have been milled into the bottom of the supports to allow for the stringers to slot into when the pontoon is turned. 

Time to mill some wood!

I've remade hoop No. 16 to my satisfaction. I tried making shavings, but I didn't like the outcome too much. Then I took some of the 0.3mm material I had made previously and thinned it out even more with a spindle sander. I probably got it well below 0.2mm. At this thinness I was successful wrapping it in layers around the form. I also enlarged the holes in the forms that had been 1/8" to 1/4" - now all 16 hoops (with forms) fit nicely on the 1/4" diameter dowel. Here is a picture of hoops 15 and 16 sitting on the pontoon jig.

Just a little more work on the jig and I can start attaching the longitudinal stringers that hold all of the hoops together.