cdrusn89

With the hull inverted and the display board already here I decide to drill the holes in the board and then mark and drill pilot holes for the display pedestals in the keel now rather than trying to perform some unnatural sex act to get them done later. Here is the display board (interesting piece of wood) and the keel holes.

Thanks Tim - I had to figure something as I had absolutely no luck creating something similar to what is provided in the kit from boxwood. After creating the gudgeons from the brass strip included with the kit I found (while looking for something else) a pintel/gudgeon "kit" from Syren. This uses a wooden block (with a hole for the "pin") to replace the "notch" that I was having a hard time creating in the brass. Since I have no real interest in having the rudder capable of moving I decided to create similar wooden blocks for this model. The Syren supplied ones are a bit too narrow to fit all the way to the edge of the 1/4" wide Confederacy rudder. These blocks provide a surface (five surfaces actually) to allow me to glue the rudder to the stern post. Once that is mset I can fabricate the gudgeon "runners" from the brass strip or use the "laserboard" ones that come with the Syren "kit". Here is the rudder glued in position. The clamps are (hopefully) keeping in lined up with the stern post.

After the small set back have to paint the "other" side of some of the photo-etched pieces I managed to get the starboard side quarter gallery finished, the upper molding and walnut strip on the starboard side. Here is how it looks now - am considering brushing a thin coat of clear/flat on the entire stern/quarter gallery area to help protect these areas as construction proceeds. I decided that the rudder work needed the hull inverted again so I switched build boards and installed the strongback on the hull (hopefully for the last time) - maybe it is time to drill the holes for the mounting hardware while I have the hull upside down. As I was trying to cut the opening for the rudder post two of the planks in the transom came off. As it turned out this was probably just as well. I was able to trim the pieces one by one and get them glued back in without further incident. Here is what it looked like before I replaced the missing pieces. And here is after I got the pieces glued back in but still need to clean up the opening. I got he rudder itself fabbed and the pintels installed. Here it is held in place while I mark where the gudgeons are going to go. While I was looking at the rudder post hole I decided that the name needed to be done more carefully (and aligned too) so I pulled off the set of letters that were they and decided to use the "other" set (there are two complete sets on the photo-etched sheet) to replace a few that did not survive being removed in pristine shape. To assist in getting the spacing correct I took the name off the plans and taped it in place below where the letters will go on the model. I also took a piece of masking tape and established a curve about 1/16" below the molding line. Hopefully this will keep the letters on the same line. Here is the stern waiting for the letters to be added. And here it is with the lettering. I was not able to correctly follow the curve of the stern despite the tape. I probably should have moved the tape up (down) a little more but I think this is enough better than the first try to quit while I am ahead.

As I moved to the starboard quarter gallery to add the trim pieces I came to another realization (which I should have noticed before but ...) that the trim pieces (specifically the long scroll pieces that go below and above the gallery windows and the scrolls forward of the quarter gallery) on the photo-etched sheet are all in the same orientation; i.e. are all identical and thus need to be painted (or however you are finishing them) for the port and starboard sides on opposite sides of the photo-etch sheet. I (of course) painted them on on one side so now will have the pieces on the starboard side painted on both sides. Probably not the best situation for adhesion but these pieces are not under any stress besides gravity. Live and learn. Probably would be a good time to check the trim pieces that go on the bow. So while I wait for the starboard side "ornaments" to dry I put the name on. I had given some thought to building a "name board" to mount the name on and then mount that on the stern but this did not come out terrible. The spacing could have been more even but given that it is hard to see the name clearly given the location and slope of the lower transom I will put the name board on the "maybe" list. Here is what the stern looks like finished (except for the rudder and associated fittings).

Now back to the stern and quarter galleries. As I mentioned previously the stern on my model is "mis-shapen" or something as there is not the same distance between the bottom of the stern windows and the lower molding to accommodate a molding strip directly under the windows and the provided decorative scowl work so I opted to not add the additional molding. I have installed the windows (and yes one of the panes at the top of the center window has gotten "poked out" - I will deal with that "later") and all the figures and decorations on the stern and here is what it looks like: As you can see from the "light leaks" around the windows they do not fit as well as I might have liked but I am reluctant to try and fix them for fear of making things worse. With the decking and cabin bulkheads installed it will not be so easy to get a light source directly behind these windows which is when the "leaks" are the most obvious. Next job back here is the ship's name but I need to position the model differently to make that easier. So I am working to complete the quarter galleries and have the port side completed. I was hoping to make all my mistakes on this side so the "good" side will benefit from the experience. We shall see. As at the stern I did not have enough room at the top of the gallery to fit a piece of molding and two row of decorative carving in so I opted )as on the stern) to not fit the molding. I even tried a piece of 1/32 X 1/32 material just to provide a divider but that also was too big. However there was room for an additional set of carvings, the drawing shows five pieces but I can fit seven here - oh well! So here is the port side gallery with all the "fixins".

With the quarter galleries in place I needed to add the additional molding on the sides (the one that aligns with the top of the quarter galleries). The molding on the top of the quarter galleries establishes the aft end of this molding run and the forward end is established where the quarter deck and main deck bulwarks meet (the corner formed where the quarterdeck bulwark begins). However, I thought it unwise to just accept that point as currently defined by the hull planking since I know that there is some difference in how the planking runs on each side. An additional consideration was the volutes that form the ends of both sets of molding at the waist. Here is what the drawing shows. From the top of the rail to the bottom of the volute is 1/4" so the volute extends 3/16" below the top of the bulwark. Examination of the bulwark on the model shows that on the port side there was not enough space between the top of the bulwark and the bulwark below to allow the volute to sit where the drawing shows. So I had to add a spacer (of Swiss Pear since it might show later) to get the necessary clearance with the molding below. Similarly with the second volute where the molding extending back to the quarter galleries would start. It is my intent to use boxwood (natural) for at least the rails on the gun deck and forecastle instead of the painted ones of the kit so I need to figure out how to make the volutes from boxwood. I made some boxwood dowels and tried to duplicate the design on the kit provided volutes (continuation of the molding (see above)). That effort was unblemished by success, using either a Demel tool, manual files or both. So I decided to try something different. I started with a piece of boxwood a bit over twice as wide as I expect the final main rail to be (3/4") and a bit longer than the longest of the steps in the bulwark. I set the table saw to cut a groove 7/16" from the end that leaves just over 2mm of material left. I used the table saw to remove the same material as far back as was needed. Then I used the disk sander (and 220 grit sanding sticks) to round off the end on the outside and inside edges. I used a triangular file to try and make the junction with the flat part look more like a part circle and a sanding stick to smooth out the saw marks and get the straight part down to 2mm thick to fit my molding cutter - European manufacturer. I used an awl to mark the center of the "circle" and add marks 2mm out from the center at the eight cardinal points. Using thumbs drills I drilled a 3/64" hole in the center and 1/32" holes around it. I added the holes to, both sides of the piece then cut it is half so I will have pieces for both sides. The side of the piece that will be inboard I left without the holes. After the holes were lightly sanded and cleaned out I used the molding cutter to add the groove to the straight part. (Sorry about the focus) Here is what two pieces sitting on the port side as an approximation of what it will look like. You can see the molding that extends back to the top of the quarter gallery on the right. It is not glued on yet. I needed to establish exactly where this will be so it meets up with the piece I just created. I intend to add a piece (possibly pieces) of walnut veneer between the two pieces of molding as I did between the lower pieces. Hopefully this will cover up any gaps that remain after I get these pieces mounted.

I decided to work on the stern windows first, hopefully this will make the quarter galleries "easier". I trimmed the openings/windows so the frames would "slide" in before I added the windows using the Master Model canopy and window maker "glue". There is a learning curve with this stuff. The trick is to get only just as much as will hold across the opening. Too much (which it is easy to do) leaves a cloudy border around the window. Don't ask me how I know. The tool of choice for me was a round toothpick that had been sharpened on a sanding stick a bit. As the glue starts to set in whatever you are holding it in (30cc medicine cup in my case) you get a bigger drop on whatever you are using and it takes fewer dips to cover the window. As I said too much is not good - I used some fine "brushes" from MicroMark to "suck" the extra out of a window if I got too much in. After adding the "glue" with the windows on parchment paper and then scotch tape using various weights to keep the window flat on the surface I finally decided that holding the window more or less horizontal with nothing under it produced the best results. Here is one of them in a clamp with the visible windows filled in. The bad news with this method is it takes two steps as some of the windows are obstructed by the clamp. But then if you are in a hurry there will be much trouble ahead. However when I went to put the windows back in the stern none of them fit without additional trimming. Apparently the glue or moisture is enough to distort the window frames - at least the ones I was using which were custom cut from Swiss Pear. Anyway, after more trimming here are the windows installed it the stern.

A close inspection of the photo above reveals that for whatever reason there is not enough space between the upper piece of molding and the bottom of the window openings to have an additional piece of molding as shown in the plans. So I will have to bring the cove that supports the carvings above the windows come all the way down to the upper molding. That brought me to my next problem. I broke the kit provided cove piece while removing the lower half of the carrier sheet. It probably would not have been long enough anyway so it appears I will have to fabricate my version of the stern cove molding. The stern cove molding provided is 1/8" thick and tapers from 1/8" wide at the center to about 1/16" at the ends. It also needs to be tapered in the fore/aft dimension as shown in the instructions. I want the cove to be in boxwood as the rest of the molding is in that wood and i really do not want to draw attention to this piece as it really is just the support for the stern carvings. Given the size and thin dimensions I was hesitant to try and fabricate it from a single piece of wood as no matter which way the grain runs it is going to be very hard to shape without breaking. My solution was to create a piece of 1/8" boxwood plywood. I had a 1/16" thick piece of boxwood that was wide enough to fit the stern cove vertically but not horizontally so I was forced to make the second ply in three pieces. I glued this up and then after it was dry and the edges sanded smooth I used the kit provided carrier sheet to draw the required shape on my plywood. I extended the ends another 1/2" to make sure I would have enough length to reach the existing upper molding. I did not take pictures of the intermediate steps but here is the stern cove on the stern waiting for the glue to dry. I should have made sure the side with the continuous sheet was facing out since you can clearly see the joints in plywood. Hopefully the seams will be less noticeable after a couple of coats of WoP. I also got the port side quarter gallery finished (the windows are just sitting in their frames). I think I did a better job of getting the forward seam less noticeable than on the stbd side.

While I worked on the port side I got the window frames dry fitted into the stbd side quarter gallery. These frames are done in Swiss Pear, although I have been considering hitting them with the walnut stain so the gaps between the frame and the gallery will not be so obvious. Not sure what I will do at this point - I have walnut wood filler and wood putty but I have not tried it alongside the walnut stained walnut veneer that I used for the gallery facing. Perhaps I should experiment some before deciding. I also (against my better judgement) mixed up a combination of tru-color flat off-white (TCP-817) and SP&S Yellow (TCP-48) to get a color that is pretty close to the shade of the boxwood that I have used for the molding on the stern. Here is the piece of trim between the windows (also dry fitted) held in place with two bits of masking tape.

The starboard side quarter gallery - wiped down with paint thinner. And yes I see that the bulwark is broken off - that happened while I was thinning the bulkwarks. It was the only one so I mcount myself lucky. I will fix it when I get the port side finished. I did not get the forward junction with the hull as close as I wanted but... I am putting the glass in the windows with the canopy and window cement (Model Master Clear Parts Cement and Window Maker to be exact) instead of the acetate sheet. I think I am going to wait until I get the port side done and then put all the windows in at the same time. Now it is on to the port side.

I decided to use boxwood in place of the kit supplied parts for the "floor" of the quarter galleries. But I did not have any boxwood in a wide enough width to span the entire area so I glued up four pieces of 1/8" wide strip which I will use for the bottom and aft part of the quarter gallery interiors. I used the kit piece for the inner "top" of the quarter galleries since it will be really hard to see them. So here are the quarter gallery "foundations" ready for the two layer "skin" to be applied.

It was only a matter of when the dreaded "tolerance build-up" would rear its ugly head and that time is now - at least the first instance where it is causing a "real" problem. The issue came to light when I was installing the QG1 and 2 pieces that define the top and bottom of the quarter gallery "foundations". The directions say that the upper (QG1) piece should be 1/16" below the lower opening for the quarter galleries which are defined by the bulwark planking. If the planking on each side are not "aligned" (at least vertically) then the quarter galleries will appear at slightly (hopefully) different locations relative to the stern transom. However, since the ends of the galleries will be connected by molding pieces top and bottom even a slight difference will cause the molding to not appear to be "level". On this model the difference was pretty close to 1/16" with the port side higher than the starboard. Unluckily I did not recognize the problem until both sets of QG1 and 2s were glued in place. So I tore the port side pieces off. I decided that the stbd side was going to be the "display" side (it has the hull planking cut-out) so would use that as "ground truth" for the quarter galleries. Here is the stbd side quarter gallery "foundation" as it stands now. I used the thin walnut veneer to cover the QG1 and 2 pieces. I saw no reason to plank this area since I was going to cover it with walnut. Now that I have located the stbd side of the upper molding strip (you can see it in the photo above) I have to extend it across the stern and hope it comes somewhere close to where the port side QG1 should be. We will see.

I had to invert the hull again to add the "details" to the lower transom as well as providing a better perspective to plank the upper transom. I added the walnut veneer to the transom and now the hull is back upright. I should have taken I picture before I turned it over but... So here it is as I start the construction of the quarter galleries.

While letting the glue dry on the upper transom planking I was experimenting with finish for the etched brass parts that will be part of the decorations on the stern. I have several bottles of Mr. Surfacer metal "primer" which I was planning on using on the etched brass to try and give the pieces a more rounded look - simulating the wood that they were made from. I have three different products, number 500, 1000 and 1200. The only differfence I can detect is that the larger the number the thinner the material appears to be. They are also a slightly different shade of gray. I applied a bit (by brush) to the edge of the etched brass sheet (after chemically cleaning the area) and then tested two of the colors I am considering for use to approximate the color of boxwood which is the wood I used for the "fancy" molding and will use for much of the interior items. The two colors are tru-color TCP-48 (SP&S Yellow) and tru-color TCP-123 (MP Eagle Yellow) - my local "model" shop is principally for model train folks so much of the paint they carry are aimed at that community. The picture below shows a piece of boxwood and samples of the two colors on top of the three primers. I may try and add some flat white to the TCP-123 (the color on the left) to try for a closer match although I generally try to use pre-mixed colors to avoid issues later when touch-up is required and I might have to mix more - never can get an exact match once the initial supply is gone - at least that has been my experience so far. If anyone has a suggestion for another pre-mixed color that would be useful please let me know and I will see if I can get some. As with clamps, you can n ever have too many paint colors.

Getting down to "business" at the stern. I got the stern transom attached and added the thickening to the out sections. Now the "real" fun, thinning the stern transom, lintels and sills to the 3/16" thickness of the outer portions of the stern transom. I mostly used an 80 grit sanding stick (aka tongue depressor) but had to make some adaptations when it came to the outermost stern timbers to get where it meets the bulwarks. Here is a picture of the stern timbers after thinning. The tops are now 1/8" thick and hopefully not much thicker than that as the extend down. Time will tell when I have to plank the interior of the great cabin. Anyway, here is what it looks like with the stern timbers mthinned: It is my intention to use walnut veneer on the transom instead of painting it flat black. To that end I ripped a piece of walnut that is luckily wide enough to accommodate the stern transom and thickness sanded it down to a bit more than 1/64" thick (.018"). I used the stern transom (before I glued it to the stern) to trace the outline on the walnut sheet and cut it out a bit larger than the tracing would indicate. Here it is clamped to the stern transom but not yet glued in place. I still have to cut pieces to cover the stern timbers themselves (should have thought of that when I was gluing the basswood pieces in place - it would, be easier to have trimmed the walnut to size attached to the basswood piece.).

So now it is on to the stern and quarter galleries. First step is to add the laser cut stern transom which includes two laser cut markers that should line up with the two center stern timbers. However, as you can see below the starboard side stern timber does not line up correctly. Note: I am not (yet) concerned about where the lintels and sills line up with the top and bottom of the transom. Need to get the timbers straight first. So I decided I needed to change some of the lintels and sills so I removed three of them as shown below. I cut some new lintels and sills and moved the starboard stern timber over just a bit. So here is the stern tarnsom as installed. I checked the distance from the top of the stern transom to the top of the bulwark planking on each side as a proxy for getting the stern transom "level". Both sides showed 10mm (+ or - less than 1 mm). So I glued it in place.

Bossman - Thanks and yes it is good to get her back upright although I notice some detail on the lower transom that should probably have been done before I reoriented her. Hopefully those will be put off to some indeterminate time in the future. With the hull planking completed (I am sure there is something left to do I just can't figure out what it might be) I switched to a new build board which I ordered when I started the build. It took over 90 days for it arrive (from Poland) but I did not need it until now. The old build board was great as long as there were exposed parts of the bulkhead former but now it would mean building a new series of custom "holders" which would be useful only for this build since they would be adapted to this particular hull shape. So I completed the third coat of WoP and here is the model on the new build board.

And here is the hull after two coats of Wipe-on-Poly. Every time I apply the WoP I think about finishing up with a coat of semi-gloss . I know that the finish in the period was flat but since this is more for "display" than "complete accuracy" (IMHO) I wonder if semi-gloss on the lower wales and hull would look "better" than the flat finish. I am planning on at least one more coat of WoP so I have a least few hours to decide.

Here is the Holly stern post and the new keel repair (this time I included the bolt heads as if this joint was supposed to be here) installed after three coats of Wipe-on-Poly flat. Not the best hull planking where it meets the stern post but probably the best I have done so far - and no filler to cover the gaps since it is not painted.

Speaking of the stern post - I decided that I needed to have one in the same wood (Holly) as the hull planking. I used the kit material for the stem and keel and want to keep the keel, rudder and stem in the basswood (mostly because I have little faith in my ability to turn out a satisfactory version of the kit design in another material). However, when this occurred to me I had already cut all the Holly I had into 1/8" wide pieces in preparation for cutting the hull planks. Since the stern post is 1/4" I had to glue up a billet from which to cut the stern post. I figured using a laminated piece would not show since the hull, rudder and keel cover the exposed sides - no harm no foul. Here is the kit supplied stern post (not glued together) and the one I fabricated from Holly (glued together).

Port side planking completed! Now for some sanding and fixing the keel (again). I messed up my original repair trying to get the interface with the stern post straight. I am going to install the stern post now since I can't find anyplace in the instructions where it is shown and it is clearly in place when the rudder is installed in Chapter 8 and in all the pictures in Chapter 7. So here is the port side as it stands now.

I have been "dogging it" lately - too much baseball to watch. So I got the first six rows (of the twelve remaining) on the port side completed. Here is what it looks like. Bow appears as though I need to add a stealer but I am going to add a few more rows before deciding exactly what to do. Getting close to hull planking completion - not a moment too soon.

Port side band 3, lined off and the first four planks (two starting at the bow and two at the stern) dry fitted. Thinking about how to add a drop plank or two at the bow as the planks there would be ev en narrower than on the stbd side (where I added one drop plank).

Starboard side hull planking completed. Now for the port side.

The current version of my jig for tapering the planks. The slot toward the bottom and the clamp on the left hold the plank with about half the width above the board. The clamp keeps it from moving. I use the 100 grit sanding stick to taper the plank. The two strips of masking tape are marked with the bulkhead locations (one each for forward and aft of the "0" bulkhead) with the calculated widths at each bulkhead. I mark a plank with either set of bulkhead locations and then start sanding. I have to take the plank out of the groove five or six times to check the widths as I move from the narrow to wider end. Six more planks for each end and then the stbd side should be complete.