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cdrusn89

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Everything posted by cdrusn89

  1. cdrusn89
    Thanks WalrusGuy - I see you are making substantial progress on your Confederacy.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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:
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. cdrusn89
    Looking good - the stern is definitely a challenge.
  16. 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.
  17. cdrusn89
    Here are some pictures to help with the words.
  18. cdrusn89
    Bruce, I used the Syren brass cannon. I used a drill press to drill a hole in the cannon (before painting them flat black) and glued in an eyebolt (from Model Expo) for the breech rope.
  19. cdrusn89
    Bruce, I assembled all the cannons before I started the hull. I have all the breech tackles ready to install too and some (but not nearly all) of the gun tackles. I plan on periodically taking a break from the deck planking to get the rest of them ready.
  20. cdrusn89
    I got the planking between the four forward-most hatch coamings extended outward enough to start the planking scheme on both sides. I am going to stop in the forward section and get the after section in a similar state before proceeding with extending the planking to the waterways. Here is where things stand at the moment.
  21. cdrusn89
    Continuing with the deck planking. I had to resort to some wider planks to try and get them to come out "even once clear of the coamings. Looking at the plans (sheet 1) shows that all but one of the coamings should be exactly 10 planks wide. If I had looked earlier I would have tried harder to get them a consistent width. I also got tired on the blue tape on the ladder wells so I cut some 1/32" sheet to fit them and replaced the tape. I have the starboard side forward extended to the first row outside the coamings. Will get the port side in a similar condition before moving aft of amidships. Here is an overall view and a closeup of the main hatch way where I have glued down the small hatch cover and the wider planks I used.
  22. cdrusn89
    Working the area between the coamings. I decided not to worry too much about having the planking exactly match the curve of the mast holes as this will be covered by the mast coats. It appears that I am going to have to make some notched planks to fit around some of the coamings. It was probably too much to hope for that I had made the coamings an even multiple of the plank widths wide. I also decided to cover the hatch openings to keep any debris from ending up down there. With the ladders installed getting it out might be a challenge. So here is where the planking stands.
  23. cdrusn89
    Thanks Tim. I finally got the Alaskan Yellow Cedar planking sheets from Syren Ship Model and am in the process of ripping them into 1/8 X 1/16 strips for planking the deck. I also made some 1/4 X 1/16 planks for (hopefully) the hook scarfs that are in the future. Here is my "stash" of cedar planks ready to "meet the deck".
  24. cdrusn89
    I finally got all the items completed prior to adding the deck planks on the gun deck. I am waiting for more Alaskan Yellow Cedar from Syren Ship Model Company from which to mill the 1/8" X 1/16" deck planks plus some wider (probably 1/4" X 1/16" to accommodate the "hook scarfs" used at the edges. I have not done this before - all my previous experience with with the nibbling technique but on hulls that did not have a false deck. Cutting the nibs into the margin plank is significantly easier if there is no false deck to interfere with getting access to the edge of the margin plank. So here is the model with the gun deck items glued down, except the two small gratings. I noticed that my main hatch coaming is not quite as wide as the outline on the false deck (although it does fit the provided grating so...) so I will wait until I have some decking installed in the area to glue them down. I don't want to have to create a very narrow plank to go between these small gratings and the main hatchway.
  25. cdrusn89
    I finished the coamings and associated gratings and ladders. I put a coat of clear flat on everything but the capstan platform (need to add the treenails before adding finish). Here are all the centerline "fixtures" sitting in place along with the checkerboard flooring glued down and the stern lights replaced. I decided to only paint the bricks where they will show although I have painted a few more since I took this picture and added the eyebolts to the forward hatch. I

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