Jump to content
MSW Spring Donation Drive

cdrusn89

NRG Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,653

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by cdrusn89

  1. cdrusn89
    Capstan under construction. I drilled the holes for the simulated bolts in the whelps before assembly. Not looking forward to dealing with the chocks, they are going to equal dealing with the 2mm blocks.
  2. cdrusn89
    Rudder box sitting in the Great cabin. I will glue it down after I put a coat of WoP on.
  3. cdrusn89
    I fabbed the necessary eyebolts. Here are the 28 cannon and the eyebolts in the medicine cup. And here are the 28 plus three spares including the one that had been glued to the deck as the original test article. Now all I need is the new breeching rope. Next week (I hope). In the meantime I am going to build the rudder box and then the capstan if the breeching rope is slow getting here.
  4. cdrusn89
    So I messed around with the 2mm blocks that I had on hand. After the first three split apart as I was trying to mount them in my custom built block holder I decided this was not going to work. And I don't think an additional half mm is going to buy enough room to make an appreciable difference. So, I decided to look at the drawings - novel idea. Both the Syren and the Confederacy drawings of the gun carriages show three eyebolts on each side. The forward most one is for the breeching tackle. The other two are (I assume) the out-haul (to move the gun back up to the gun port) and the train tackle (move the rear of the carriage from side to side). It would make sense that the rear most eyebolts would house the train tackle since it is the rear of the gun carriage that needs to be moved. I will not let that minor detail deter me from getting more real estate for the out haul. Here is the Confederacy drawing which clearly shows three eyebolts on each side (breech, out-haul and train). The instructions would have you install all the eybolts but only make up enough tackle to fit one set per gun (56 sets). The instructions (who follows them??) say to hook the tackle to the rear-most eyebolt so I will follow the instructions - now. So, I am going to add two additional eyebolts to each gun carriage (maybe not to the one already glued to the deck) and thus gain almost 5mm more space for the out haul tackle. Here is the "test" gun carriage with the additional eyebolt. And here is the "test" gun carriage in my "test" gun port (too bad I did not put the "top" on the gun port. I might have noticed that the carriages I started with were going to be too large BEFORE I built them all. The starboard side tackle is not my "best" work attaching the line to the becket but even that one manages to fit (more or less). Still waiting for the new breeching line to arrive so I will busy myself making 50+ new eyebolts (32 ga wire, .032 eyes) and mounting them on the carriages. After than on to the stove and/or capstan.
  5. cdrusn89
    I found out today that Syren Ship Model Company is back in the miniature rope business - but their .025 tan is sold out so I ordered some .035 in tan to use for the breeching tackle. That should be "good enough". I also ordered more of the 2mm single blocks (Model Expo "beautiful" blocks) and will try and rig them up to replace the 60+ 2.5mm ones I have already rigged. I wonder if the half mm saved is worth the effort but since I have to wait for the new breeching tackle line I might as well. I am also considering only having the starboard side cannon at the gun ports. I can utilize the rest of the tackle I already have if I have the guns with their barrels inside the bulwark. It had always been my intention to display the model with the starboard side "out" so maybe that would provide a nice contrast. I am going to rig the 20 or so 2mm blocks I have now to see if it really matters. Maybe I will start the stove while I wait.
  6. cdrusn89
    Hit return too quickly - sorry. So the first problem is that the eyebolts I used for the breeching tackle are probably a bit oversize (made from 26 ga wire with .039 eyes). I had to cut them very short in order to get them in the holes I drilled (#68 drill bit). Also, although I used .027 line from Bluejackets (instructions say use .028) the line looks too small. The second problem is with the out-haul tackle. With the gun carriage at the bulwark the two blocks that make up the tackle are almost touching. This means that the way that the tackle line is attached to the becket of the block at the bulwark needs to be very small. When I was making them up I did not know this and at least some (maybe many) of these attachments are too large to allow the blocks to get as close as they need to be. Here is a close up of the in-haul tackle with some auxiliary lighting to make it easier to see the out-haul tackle. Had I known how this would play out I would have moved the eyebolt on the carriages further back and might have used the 2mm blocks instead of the 2.5mm ones that I did use. Working with the 2.5mm was "no fun" so I can only assume that using 2.0mm would have been even less so. I am staining some .040 line that I had in the parts drawer to use for the breeching tackle and considering my options on the out haul tackle.
  7. cdrusn89
    So I made a "test run" mounting one of the cannon and rigging the out-haul (I assume this tackle was used to return the gun to "battery" after it was reloaded) and breeching tackle.
  8. cdrusn89
    Three coats of Wipe-on-Poly later here is the Confederacy deck. Treenails are darker than I would have preferred but not really objectionable. Deck is covered in many areas so you can't really see it very well except in spots. And I am out of ideas to make it better (the enemy of good enough as I have been told). And I got the guns finsihed except for the breeching tackle. Here they are 28 plus two "spares" just in case. I did rig the breeching tackle on one as a test. I think the correct strategy (for me) is to glue the breeching tackle to the bottom (outside) of the rear wheels to get the line to "flow" correctly from the breech ring. I thought (briefly) about using 50/50 glue/water to try and stiffen the line as it comes off the breech but besides being somewhat messy the line does not want to cooperate. I will mess around with this some more on my two spares before commiting to doing the "real" 28.
  9. cdrusn89
    Thanks WalrusGuy - I see you are making substantial progress on your Confederacy.
  10. cdrusn89
    It has been almost a month since I last posted. With a new job and a trip to Hawaii I have been working on Confederacy but only very infrequently. I did manage to get the deck treenailing completed and am ready to apply the Wipe-on-Poly. Below is the deck after being wiped with a paint thinner dampened rag. I am hopeful that the woP will not cause the treenails to darken this much. I think I tested this combination (yellow cedar planks with "natural" filler) but I threw all my sample sets out in a fit of "let's clean up the shop" just before I left for Hawaii. Not sure there is anything I could do about it at this point anyway. I am continuing to work on the guns - have about half of them mounted in their carriages and am working out how to get the breech ropes rigged. I need tyhe deck completed beffore I start on installing the guns.
  11. cdrusn89
    I took one of the new gun/carriage assemblies to completion to see if there were going to be issues and here is what that one looks like. I painted the brass barrels rather than chemically blacked as I have not had great luck getting them to stay blackened.
  12. cdrusn89
    It has been awhile since I managed to get anything done in the shipyard. New job, girlfriend wants to see people, etc. I am slowly getting the treenail holes drilled. I can only do about two rows at a sitting (actually standing and bending over the deck) before my back starts to make my life difficult. Here is today's contribution. I will put the filler in tomorrow or maybe drill some more holes.
  13. cdrusn89
    Progress will bve a little slower from now on - I went back to work (part time/remote) last Monday. SO less time in the workshop but more money to buy "toys". Anyway I built the eight carriages that I material for while I await the rest as they wend their way from New Jersey. Here is the first one as finished as it will be until I have the rest on my "stuff". I am going to finish all the barrels at the same time rather than set up to do it twice. Of note - on the larger carriage version I used a part of a brass belaying pin as the quoin handle. This time I used a piece of 26 ga wire as the quoin is quite a bit smaller. I formed the "bulb" on the end using Mr. Surfacer 1500 (it is black). I dipped the short piece of wire glued into the quoin in the Mr. Surfacer and then let in dry with the wire hanging down. Gravity does the rest. I also decided to forgo using both a split ring and an eyebolt for the breeching rope fitting. I think it will be hard to notice with the breeching rope hiding most of the detail. I also used black monofilament fishing line to simulate the bolt heads in the top of the carriage sides. Saves having to come back and touch up the shiny ends when you cut the wire off "flush". I mistakenly ordered 450 meters of the #9 line (0.0205"/ 0.53mm diameter, 26lb test) which should last me several lifetimes since you use less than an inch on each carriage. So I ran a test onboard the hull to make sure this one is going to fit and here she is: And from the outside:
  14. cdrusn89
    I have been working on the gun carriages rather than the treenailing as I need to decide on a course going forward. Treenailing will still be there. I found at least part of the problem is with the model. According to the plans the top of the midships gun ports should be about 16mm above the deck. as you can see below mine are more like 13 or 14. Sorry about the orientation - it comes out this way no matter what the target file looks like. So I built the three smaller size carriages: the Syren 1 11/64ths and the two that came with the kit. The larger of the two carriages that came with the kit was about the same as the larger Syren carriage. It is just too tall. See below: Youi can see the gun has to be depressed to get it in the gun port. The 1 11/64s carriage did fit - just. If I go this way I will have to be careful with the thickness of the stool bed to allow space for the quoin (or leave it out). Here is what a cannon looks like from inside and out. The smaller kit provided carriage also fits; better than the Syren one but since it is made from basswood I will probably opt for the 1 11/64ths Syren carriages assuming I can get enough. I have one set of four on hand and will build those while I wait for more to arrive.
  15. cdrusn89
    I hesitate to even mention what I discovered more or less by accident yesterday. For some reason I put one of the completed cannon on the deck and to my horror found that the cannon was too tall, by about the width of the barrel to fit through the gun port!!!! Investigation revealed that I had used a cannon (1 29/64ths) that is very close to the one that came with the kit ( 1 3/8s aka 1 24/64ths) but used the Syren carriage for their larger 1 23/32 cannon. My bad!!! I have samples of all three of the Syren carriages and for whatever reason the kit came with two sets of carriages for the provided cannon. I took measurements (in mm for simplicity) of the height of the front of the carriage on all five sets using the digital calipers and here is what I found: Syren 1 23/32" - 11.56mm Syren 1 29/64" - 9.83mm Syren 1 11/64 - 7.69mm Kit # 1 - 7.74mm Kit #2 - 6.99mm So, while the cannon provided with the kit match (pretty close) the 1 29/64s Syren cannon the carriages are closer to the 1 11/64" carriages. So I am going to build a carriage in each of the three smaller sizes (I already know the largest is too big) and then decide what path to take. While I really like the Syren carriages I noticed that they are no longer made of boxwood but are now Alaskan cedar. Since they are painted I am not sure this really matters but the same could be said for the kit provided carriages. I will press on with treenailing the deck while building the carriages.
  16. cdrusn89
    Thanks WalrusGuy. I am sure yours will be at least as beautiful. And to think most of this deck is going to be under the forecastle/quarter decks. I almost chickened out of doing the treenailing but put in one row of the holes last night to reinforce my resolve.
  17. cdrusn89
    Port side deck planking completed. Now the fun. Sanding (Not!). I have decided to drill the holes for the gun tackle and breeching rope before I bother to finish (aka poly) the deck. In fact I am going to try and install all of the other "hardware" that goes on the interior bulwarks before I enbark mon the next most tedious task - treenailing. I would wait to sand the deck until I got the treenails installed but my experience is that the filler gets in all the places you do not want it and sanding it out can be problematic if the surface isn't as smooth and flat as you can get it (within reason of course). So here is the port side decking.
  18. cdrusn89
    With the prospect of having to mount the 12 pounder cannon in the near future (and looking for something to break up the next part of the decking job (treenailing) I thought having a way to secure the cannon to the deck (more secure than glue since both the cannon wheels and deck will have a coat or three of poly on them) would be useful. So I pulled out the cannon and decided that there wasn't enough "meat" to support a wooden "pin" so I decided to use metal. Phosphor-bronze since that is what I have on the shelf. I drilled a #61 hole in the front axle. Not too deep just deep enough to hold the wire with a drop of CA. Add the wire and cut. I did two of the 28 to prove the first was not a fluke. I realize that if someone were to look through the gunports at deck level that they will probably be able to see the pins but I doubt anyone I know would bother.
  19. cdrusn89
    I finished the gun tackles - eventually made 62 of them. I am sure one (at least) of the hooks will break off or some other malady afflict a few of them. If not I have enough extra to do a few of the quarterdeck cannon. Here are the last 13 of them hung over the power tool bench.
  20. cdrusn89
    Yes Ron you can do it too. I find this somewhat tedious but then rigging even a two masted square rigger also has it moments of tediousness. It could have been worse; if I remember correctly the Niagara kit had four sets of tackle (plus the breeching rope) on each of the 20 guns. At least on Confederacy there is essentially no rigging once the guns are done.
  21. cdrusn89
    I took a break from deck planking to work on the gun tackle. I need 56 (28 * 2) sets of tackle for the 12 pounders - (I will deal with the smaller gun tackle later). The breech lines are already attached to the cannon so these are the tackle used to bring the gun back to the bulwark in preparation for the next firing. These are the block with becket that attaches to the upper of the two eyebolts (yet to be installed) on each side of the gunport. The breeching tackle attaches to the lower eyebolt. I have already made the 56 single blocks that are attached to the gun carriage. I used Model Expo "Beautiful Blocks" 2.5mm singles. I decided to strop them with 34 gauge wire instead of line because I find that easier to do (no glue required) and I have not had great luck making (and successfully attaching) small wire (brass or steel) hooks to small single blocks. The instructions would have you make the blocks from scratch and they made it easier to get the hook enough material to glue to by only putting a single hole for the line. I have about 30 completed and have the hanging over the plans to try are get some of the twist out of the line. Here is a close-up of a few of them. I am not real proud on the consistency of the hook but since it will be up against the bulwark I doubt it will be really obvious.
  22. cdrusn89
    Starboard side deck planking is complete. I sanded this side some but will wait to get the planking completed before doing the "serios" sanding. Hook scarf took some planning but i think I did it correctly. Probably a wash from a difficulty standpoint between hook scarf and nibbling. You have to do nibbling more often but it is generally relatively easy and quick. It seems I spent quite a bit of time sanding the 1/4" planks to fit along side the waterway. I also (finally) set the table saw to ensure I had an 1/8" piece after the scarf. That helped keep the scarf "leg" the same width as the rest of the planking. So here is where we stand at the moment.
  23. cdrusn89
    Looking good - the stern is definitely a challenge.
  24. cdrusn89
    I have the deck planking completed (installed not "finished") for a width of 16 planks from bow to stern. I had to use a apprx 1/16" wide strip at the stern (abaft the mizzen mast) to get the sides to "match up" so I could run the full width strips down each side. Given the variation in the width of the planking strips and coamings it would probably have been a fool's errand to expect everything to work out evenly. Here is where the deck planking stands at the moment.
  25. cdrusn89
    Here are some pictures to help with the words.

About us

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

SSL Secured

Your security is important for us so this Website is SSL-Secured

NRG Mailing Address

Nautical Research Guild
237 South Lincoln Street
Westmont IL, 60559-1917

Model Ship World ® and the MSW logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,929,264 & No. 6,929,274, registered Dec. 20, 2022)

Helpful Links

About the NRG

If you enjoy building ship models that are historically accurate as well as beautiful, then The Nautical Research Guild (NRG) is just right for you.

The Guild is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to “Advance Ship Modeling Through Research”. We provide support to our members in their efforts to raise the quality of their model ships.

The Nautical Research Guild has published our world-renowned quarterly magazine, The Nautical Research Journal, since 1955. The pages of the Journal are full of articles by accomplished ship modelers who show you how they create those exquisite details on their models, and by maritime historians who show you the correct details to build. The Journal is available in both print and digital editions. Go to the NRG web site (www.thenrg.org) to download a complimentary digital copy of the Journal. The NRG also publishes plan sets, books and compilations of back issues of the Journal and the former Ships in Scale and Model Ship Builder magazines.

Our Emblem ®

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

Nautical Research Guild ® and the NRG logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,999,236 & No. 6,999,237, registered March 14, 2023)

×
×
  • Create New...