cdrusn89

I have been having problems getting the ship's boats hulls finished. I got the bearding line sanded into the false keels and the false keels and keels assembled and used the build board to hold these assemblies while I glued in the bulkheads. I was somewhat disappointed in the apparent flexibility of the bulkhead/keel assembly, even with a strip of planking on each side so I added a 1/32" X 1/8" plank down the center of the bulkheads (which will be removed before extracting the bulkheads after planking). The planking process did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. Even though I used 320 grit sandpaper to fair the bulkheads I still managed to take chips out of a bulkhead or two on each hull, plus taking entire ribs off their bulkheads in two places. These I glued back as best I could but the small (a plank or two wide at worst) pieces I left to deal with after the hull is planked and bulkhead removed. I managed to get one side of the long boat completed and two coats of Wipe-on-Poly to get an idea of what it will look like with the Swiss Pear planking. Here it is: Not too bad although I clearly did not start tapering the planks at the bow soon enough. Those diagonal marks at the bow are from pressing the planks to hard with my fingernail (I think). You can also see in the photo below that I did not get a good joint between the hull planks and the keel/false keel in a couple of places. There are also some gaps between planks but they do not show up very well in the photos and are hard to see in person unless you can get the light behind the planks. Something to think about for the pinnance. Here is what I am talking about: The real problem is on the starboard side. Here all the hull planking has pulled away from the keel and the removable part of the two forward bulkheads had become detached - probably due to using clamps to try a get the planking glued to the keel.Here is what this side looks like. One other thing to notice here is the the stem/keel is no long straight. Because there is only 1/16" of material to start with, when you remove material for the bearding line (groove) it leaves less material to form the joint between the false keel and keel. In trying to get the planking clamped to the false keel I managed to open this joint. So this will not be one of the ship's boats - although it was a learning experience. One lesson was that there needs to be more "beef" in the keel/stem/false keel joint, at least on my boats. So after gluing the pinnance keel/false keel together I drilled #76 holes through in several places and pushed .020" piano wire through the holes, put a drop of thin CA at each place and then cut/ground off the excess wire. Here is a shot of the pinnance keel/false keel with one of the reinforcing wires still to be cut off. and the shiny ends of some of those already cut off visible. Hopefully this will make it more difficult to "dislocate" the stem from the false keel.

The rest of the 2.5mm blocks for the gun tackle arrived today so I have been moving from gun tackle to longboat planking and pinnance bulkhead installation. I got to the end of the pinnance bulkhead installation and looking at the drawing noticed I could not locate where the two "extra" items (outlined in the picture below) are located. Can anyone shed any light on this? I decided to change to fixture I used to hold the false keel for the pinnance. It is longer than the longboat and the fixture I used for the longboat would not allow access to all the slots for the bulkheads. So I resorted to supporting the false keel along to bottom (the "real" keel actually). As you can see below this allows access to all the bulkhead slots. It also makes it easier to sight down the bulkheads to keep things aligned although there is still some "wiggle" in the false keel so it times it is hard to tell if you have made an actual movement of the bulkhead or just twisted the false keel. Here is a shot of the pinnance with all the bulkheads installed. Here are the first ten of the 2.5mm gun tackle blocks without the becket and line.

I got the longboat bulkheads secured and have faired the hull. Even though I used 320 grit sandpaper per the instructions I still managed to break one side of one of the ribs off. Had to resort to thin CA to fix - hopefully this will not make too big a mess of the interior. I will remove the strongbacks on the top once I get the top two rows at the gunnels completed. The hull was pretty stiff with them - I would not have wanted to try and fair the hull without them in place. I am also starting the pinnance. Even more bulkheads and with narrower spacing than on the long boat. I will have to thin out my fixture in order to get the pinnance to fit. Here is the longboat as it stands.

Here are the bulkheads installed on the false keel. The transom and bow filler pieces have yet to be installed. I am considering adding a support member (a modified tongue depressor) across the top of the bulkheads before attempting to fair the longboat. I am hoping it will add some stability to the structure. I do not think it would take much to break the false keel while trying to fair the hull even using only 320 grit sandpaper as suggested in the instructions. Since the transom is only 1/32" thick that will not go on until the hull is faired.

Since I have the build board I built for the Confederacy I decided to try it out on the longboat. I had to create ma set of "fixtures" for the t-Track to hold the false keel assembly in place. Since there isn't much meat on the keel itself and not wanting to stress the keel/false keel joint (it is after all only about 1/32" wide) I decided to design the fixture to hold between the bulkheads. Although pretty crude looking here is what I came up with. The toothpick you see are needed to keep the inboard ends of the fixtures on the build board. When tightening the knob they tend to lift off the board. I guess the T-Track and board are not exactly aligned. I had to cut the groove for the T-Track by repeatedly passing the board over the table saw moving it a bit each time. That does not produce as smooth a groove as a dado blade would (but THAT is another story). Here is a shot that better shows how the false keel is supported in the fixture. Now to add the bulkheads. Hopefully having the false keel held steady will make getting them properly aligned easier - probably still not easy, just easier.

I am still waiting for the timbering set from The Lumberyard so have decided to start building the ship's boats, starting with the longboat. I started (per the instructions) by cutting the false keel, stem and keel from the carrier sheet. Interestingly, there are two each of the stem and keel on the carrier sheet - although no mention of this in the instructions. After taking off the laser char and sanding the rabbit into the false keel I started to assemble the stem, false keel and keel. The scarf junction did not have sufficient "meat" on the two pieces. There was almost 1/32" vertical gap between the two pieces - picture below. The fit was nearly the same no matter which versions of the keel/stem I used. You can also see in the picture that I broke the false keel just where bulkhead "H" would be installed. Since this is also where the bow filler pieces go I am hoping this will not become an issue. Since the keel section is straight I decided to fabricate a new piece with more "meat" at the scarf joint. I cut a piece from the carrier sheet near where the keel pieces were located and created a replacement piece. I came out pretty well IMHO. I decided to follow the instructions and stain the keel Minwax Golden Oak. So here is the false keel/stem/keel assembly after assembly and staining. When the stain dries I am going to give the exposed part of the keel/stem a coat of Wipe-On-Poly before adding the bulkheads to the false keel. Hopefully this will help protect the stem/keel during further work.

Since Model Expo is taking their time filling my order for their 2.5mm single blocks I have been working through the 20 I have making the part of the gun tackle with the line attached. Since I will have to do this 60+ times I thought I would document my procedure here on the off chance those viewing this build log might find it useful someday. I previously showed the photo below which shows the jig I created to hold the 2.5mm blocks. As I mentioned previously the wire is .020 piano wire and the block holes are drilled out with a #76 drill before putting the block on the jig. I am using Syren .008" tan line for the gun tackle so I cut a piece about 6" long, harden a bit on each end with CA and then using a awl poke a hole in the line about 1" back from one end and thread the closest hardened end through the hole. This loop will become the "eye" that holds the line to the block. I use 32 gauge annealed steel wire for the block stroping and thread a few inch piece though the eye in the line. Here is what that looks like. Although I did not do it (do as I say not as I do) this time I should have cinched the eye around the line before putting it on the block - not doing so can lead to dealing with twists in the eye materiel as you can see in the picture below of the wire wrapped around the block on three sides. I squeeze the wire against the block with pliers so it will engage the slots cut in the edges of the block. With the wire in this position, carefully bring one end across the other as close to the "top" of the block as possible while keeping the other end extended straight out from the block in more or less the block center (although this is hsrder than you might think). Continue to wrap the wire around the "standing end" until you have three loops then cut the wire as close to the standing part as possible (but not so close as to nick the standing part - this is the weakest part of the assembly and if it fails it will be right here - do not ask me how I know). Now close up the eye in the becket line (if not done before the wire was wrapped around the block) and seize with a drop of white glue. Remove from jig when glue has dried sufficiently, form hook in the standing end (and cut off excess) and trim line. It may be necessary to add some more white glue to the line, spreading it around the "seizing" with you figures to glue down any arrant ends created by cutting off the excess. Now do this 60+ more times and then 60+ times without the line and you will have the makings of the cannon tackle.

After seeing Bossman's very nice gun pictures I decided I had better set up a "test stand" to see what the tackle I contemplated would look like, and more importantly that there would be enough room for the tackle to "fit". I tried several combinations of blocks but finally decided to use the Model Expo "Beautiful" blocks in the 2.5mm size which is just a few thousands bigger than 3/32. I found the Syren 3/32 blocks did not hold up as well as the Model Expo ones when I placed them on my "jig" for stroping. The Syren blocks tended to split. Here is my jig and with a 2.5mm block ready for stroping. The pins are .020 piano wire and I drill out the holes in the block with a #76 (.020") bit before putting it in the jig. I made up two sets of tackle and built a test stand to try out the tackle on one of my completed guns. I took the measurements off the plans and drilled holes and installed the eyebolts on the bulkwark and drilled holes to accept the eyebolts with the breeching tackle. I will admit that I am planning on using some glue to "tame" the breeching tackle line as it seems to have a mind of its own. It took more maneuvering than I liked to keep it out of the way. In any event here is what my test bed looks like with the cannon installed. And a close-up of the tackle. I am working on getting the becket attachment to a sailor-like appearance. After 50 or 60 more I should have it "down" for the last few.

Bossman - no I had not thought of that solution. I can see from your photo that 1/8" would be too big and even with 3/32 there is not much room between the two blocks in the tackle. I have several ideas for stroping the blocks with 30 or 32 gauge annealed steel wire but think this solution is more elegant although I have some doubts I can make hooks that small reliably.

All eight of the 6-pounders are complete and in a storage container. Now on to trying to figure out the gun tackles. The kit provides 3/32" blocks but I am considering going to 1/8" for the 12 pounders. I am also trying to decide if I will use the Syren blocks or give the newly available pearwood blocks from Model Expo a try. I am not a big fan of trying to make very small wire hooks and glue them into wooden blocks as called for in the instructions. I have not had good experiences keeping the hooks in the blocks as there is very little contact area if the top hole (sheave) is drilled out to accept the line. The blocks shown in the instructions have only a single hole which is in the center which provides more contact area for gluing in the hook but sacrifices some accuracy as the real blocks would have had a real sheave for the line to move over.

I got one of the 6-pounders complete except for the breeching tackle so here are two shots made with my digital SLR instead of the iPhone. I have everything on the other seven except for the trunnion cap and associated "bolts" so should have them all completed tomorrow or Sunday at the latest. Then the breeching tackle and I'll start on the out-haul tackles (all 70 or so of them).

Thank you Jean-Paul I got all the 12-pounders touched up and the breeching tackle rigged so I have put them in a storage box to keep the saw dust (while will be coming shortly) out. I rigged the breeching rope under the rear wheels so that gravity will help to shape the rigging line while they sit in storage. Now on to the 6 pounders (only 8 of these worst case).

All 28 12 pounders now have the trunnion caps and simulated bolt heads installed. I need to touch up the bolt heads (and some of the caps) with flat black but should get any red touch-up done first. So I have taken all the pieces of the 6 pounder carriages out of their carrier sheets and am removing the laser char in preparation for painting them and while I have the red paint available I will touch up the 12 pounder carriages too. So here are the 28 12 pounders waiting for touch-up and then the breeching tackle before going into "cold storage" until later.

Thanks Bossman. I finally got all the 12 pounder gun barrels painted (kept having air brush problems, think I have them resolved, at least for now) and now have them all mounted on their carriages. Glued the quions to the bed and added the rear eyebolt. Here are the 28 12 pounders mounted on their carriages Currently working getting the trunnion caps on the carriages. For the cap material I am using a black "laserboard" that is .010" thick. Probably too thick at this scale but.... I use a Xacto knife and steel ruler to cut off slices just under 1/16" wide - at least that is what I try for, not as easy (for me) as it seems it should be. I cut this into 1/2" pieces to form the caps. Using medium CA I glue a strip onto the carriage behind the trunnion trying to keep the amount of laserboard behind the trunnion consistent (at least from side to side if not exactly from gun to gun). I try and press the laserboard against the carriage/trunnion junction so it will form a curve over the trunnion. When the medium CA is dry I glue the forward section to the carriage again pushing the laserboard down against the carriage/trunnion junction as the CA dries. I try not to worry about the glue soaking through the laserboard as I am going to paint the top of the trunnion caps when I touch up the barrels and eyebolts before the breeching rigging. Using a chisel balded Xacto knife I trim the laserboard forward of the trunnion to match the length behind (at least that is my objective, not always achieved). The last step is to drill a #77 hole on each side of each cap and insert a short length of 28 ga wire to simulate the bolt head that holds the trunnion cap down - similar to the other simulated bolts in the top and sides of the carriage. Thus the need for black paint on the trunnion caps. I will have all these finished this weekend (I hope) and then will start work on the 6 pounders. I pal on building all 8 even though it is likely at only four will be included with the model. I will cross that bridge a little further down the road (okay a lot further) and if I do not assemble the extra four now I doubt I would be inclined to do it then. At least now I am in the gun building "rhythm".

Continuing the saga of building the Confederacy's armament I added the eyebolt and split rings for the breeching tackle to the sides of the carriages. The instructions say not to add these until the breeching tackle as been assembled but I choose to do it now. I used the 3/32" split rings (although given the size of the eyebolts I used for the outhaul tackle I probably could have used 1/8") and 32 ga annealed wire to make an "eyebolt" around the split ring. It was important (don't ask me how I know) to grip the split ring with the "split" inside the grip of the pliers used to hold the split ring while wrapping the 32 ga wire around the split ring. It takes longer than it seems it should since you only need a half dozen or so "wraps" to get a shaft long enough to fit through the carriage side and be secured. i used medium CA to create a bond around the shaft of the eyebolt and the carriage inside to hold the split ring. On several I had to pry the split ring off the carriage side since some of the CA had leaked through the hole and bonded the split ring to the carriage side. After getting the breech tackle taken care of the next step is to glue the barrel and quion into place. No big deal here except I filed out the half circle that the trunnion sits in on the carriage to help grip the trunnion. Here are twelve of the carriages with the barrels mounted. I decided to take one of these and add the trunnion caps and the breeching tackle. For the trunnion caps I used black laserboard cut to just under 1/16" width. I used medium CA to glue first one side, then the other using an awl to keep the laserboard in contact with the carriage and trunnion so it would form a nice semicircle around the trunnion. I used the 28 ga annealed wire to simulate the bolt heads holding the trunnion cap to the carriage sides. The instructions call for .028 tan rigging line for the breeching tackle. I am a big fan of the Syren rigging line and the closest I can come to .028 in that material is .025 so I used that (and will use .018 instead of .021 for the 6-pounders). I have been using the "zip tie" method of securing lines (see Wooden Ship Models for Dummies") so am able to rig the breeching line while allowing for each end to be adjusted to its final length after the carriage/gun assembly is mounted onboard. Here are four shots of a single carriage with the breeching tackle ready for mounting onboard the ship. When mounted onboard and final adjustments to length are complete I will attempt to get the breeching line to lie in a more "sailor-like" manner and am not ruling out glue as a method for achieving this.

With the cannon chemically cleaned now comes the application of the "Royal Monogram". Since there are 24 of these yet to be done, I decided that I needed a jig to hold the barrels so they didn't move around while the monogram is glued on. I cut a groove in a scrap to hold the barrel and then a slot for the trunnion. Here is the jig with a barrel inserted. I used a toothpick in the barrel so I could stick them into a floral block for painting. Here is a barrel with medium CA applied to the area where the monogram will be applied. And here it is with the monogram applied. And here is the floral block with several barrels inserted.

With the stool bed added the last item before the cannon are the wheels. I had kept them separated throughout the assembly process so it was and easy task to get the correct wheel on the correct axle. Here is the rogues gallery of the 28 carriages for the 12 pounder cannon. I decided to get the remaining 24 cannon barrels for the 12 pounders ready now. I have not decided exactly how I will mount the barrels (tape, card stock, laserboard, brass) so this will give me some more time to figure that out. I could also assemble the carriages for the six pounders and configure those too if I need more time. The set of barrels that I used to establish my process are in good enough shape to go onboard so I will keep my spare set "in reserve" for now. Anyway, here is what comes from Syren - each package is four cannon. Generally speaking the trunnion pin slides easily into the hole in the barrel. I think there were two or three where I had to hammer the pin in. On the rest I used thin CA to glue the pin into the barrel. IMHO it is important to get the pin in the barrel as the first step as this makes it much easier (at least for me) to make sure I knew which side was "up" and when the barrel was level. The next task is to drill the hole for the eyebolt at the rear for the breeching rope to pass through. I had a hard time drilling a #74 hole (the smallest that will accommodate the eyebolts I plan to use) directly so I started with a #76 and then enlarged it to #74. The real trick was figuring out how to mount the barrel so it would not move while drilling. (This is where I used my variable speed drill press and x-y table to get the drill where I wanted it and a foot switch so I had both hands free while drilling. After the hole is drilled I used medium CA to glue in the eyebolt after cutting the shaft short enough to the eyebolt is very close to the barrel. Next step is to chemically clean the barrels (and as a bonus the eyebolts too). Luckily the chemical cleaner does not appear to attack the CA so the eyebolts and pins stay in place. Here are the 24 barrels after cleaning. Next applying the monograms and then the paint booth.

After the brief sojourn into cannon barrels above I returned to the carriages and added the 22ga wire that supports the forward end of the stool bed and the 28ga wires that simulate the transom attachment and then painted the cut ends of the annealed wire flat black. I found that just touching the end of a sharpened awl to the paint that sticks to the bottle cap captured just enough paint to do the two wires on one side. Only 57 more to do. Here is an example side with the wires painted. With that done next was to add the stool bed. I used medium CA on the rear axle bolster and the 22ga wire to secure the stool bed. I tried to get them all to end just inside the end of the carriage sides (per drawings) so that the quoin will not overly depress the barrel. Having the barrel slightly higher in the carriage (trunnion is just below the barrel centerline) helps something I may not have discovered when I built Niagara. Anyway here is the rouges gallery of the 27 carriages and the one example, now with a black gun barrel.

While fiddling around with the gun carriages I decided to make a foray into the cannon. I have the 1 29/64" Syren brass guns that are for these carriages and was trying to decide whether to paint or chemically blacken them. I have looked at various blogs, forums and the NRG journal (which had a shop tip on the subject last quarter or the one before) and none of these techniques seem to yield a really black finish that does not rub off to some degree when handled - which will of course be necessary to some degree just getting them on the carriages to say nothing of rigging them. So I think I am going to paint them (Badger Black (1943) - 16-454) which is a flat finish. I bought a spare set of four barrels so I have some latitude to experiment. I took two of them and cleaned them using JAX Instant copper and brass cleaner. I put them in a small container, covered them in cleaner and then used the ultrasonic cleaner to make sure I got them good and clean. They are not the shiny brass that I thought I was going to get but maybe that is okay. I really want some texture to the finish to give the paint something to which to stick. Too smooth is not good. We will see how this goes. The next thing I figured out is that the barrels have a top and bottom. The hole for the trunion is not located in the center of the barrel. Close examination of the drawing shows that the "top" is the side with the larger part of the barrel above the hole. This will be important as the next two steps make additions to the barrel on the "top" side. The next project was to apply the monograms (also from Syren). These are located on the top of the barrel just above what would be the breech if it were not a muzzle loader. They are supplied in three sizes so I tried the two larger. Here are the cleaned barrels with the two monograms applied (thin CA). I think the smaller and may try the smallest one on the next "experiment". I also need to look more carefully at which side of the monogram is "up". Have to check the Syren site to see how they should go. The next item is an eyebolt for the breeching rope to pass through. This requires a hole drilled into the top center of the barrel between the knob and the top. I used my power screwdriver and a #76 bit to drill this hole but will use the drill press for the next one as the slow speed screwdriver takes forever and a day to drill even as shallow hole in the brass. Also, I used a center punch to mark where the hole should go to keep the drill bit from wandering. Here is the barrel showing the hole and with the eyebolt installed (thin CA again). Now for the paint. I used my Badger Talon airbrush and thinned down the Badger 16-454 about 1:1 from what came in the bottle. I will have to touch-up the barrel where the toothpick was used to hold it . I am starting to wonder if the monograms are worth the effort. Especially since these guns are not going to be all that easy to see as they are under the forecastle, quarterdeck or boat storage. I will probably go ahead with them, it only takes a minute or two and I already have the monograms. Will definitely use the smallest ones on the 6 pounders that go on the upper decks. It also appears that I need to carefully spray the monogram as the second one below appears to not have been covered completely. Now back to the carriages.

Thunder, Thanks but I think, based on the extensive list of models you have built that your experience base is as extensive as mine. I have tried to avoid square rigged vessels since I did Niagara. All those yards and rigging is still intimidating me.

Greg and Seahawk, Thanks for the info I will give the primers a try.

The next step (at least as I see it) is to install the transom above the front axle. As shown in the drawing below (this is the drawing from the Syren web site which is for the carriage kits sold there but this is essentially identical to the drawing included on Sheet Four the Confederacy plans - just easier to photograph) the transom should go just forward of the front axle and is tiled toward the rear of the carriage by about 15 degrees. I took the cowards way out and decided to mount the transom on top of the front axle instead of in front of it. To get the rear tilt I used the disk sander to put a 15 degree slope on one end of the transom. I then used thin CA to glue it to the front axle. I used the anvil to hold the carriage assembly steady while applying the glue. Here is the rouges gallery now with the transom installed. With the transom installed it is time to paint the carriages again - trying to leave a clear spot on top of the rear bolster to which to glue the stool bed. Here are the 26 carriages (upside down) with the paint drying. I decided to paint the bottom of the axles too - just for completeness - it is not likely anyone will ever see them once they are installed.

Two additional items added to all 26 (I haven't caught up with the two prototypes yet) gun carriages. Two eyebolts added to each side of each carriage. I used 3/32" brass eyebolts that have been chemically blackened. I tried to handle them with my hands as little as possible to keep them as black as possible. I did one side at a time put a drop of medium CA on the inside of the carriage. When the glue was dry I clipped off the excess shank inside the carriage. Here is the "rogues gallery" of the 28 carriages with eyebolts installed. Here is one carriage with the eyebolts installed. With the eyebolts installed the next step is the rear axle bolster. Looking at the laser cut part and the drawing shows that the laser cut part is about 1/16" too long to fit between the carriages over the rear axle. So each needs to be "custom fit" to the carriages. Somewhat of a pain but I suspect the extra material was provided on purpose to allow for some variation in the spacing of the carriage sides at the rear. Here are the carriages with the rear bolster installed. Next up is the transom at the front of the carriage.

I am starting the Model Expo Confederacy kit and am struggling with painting the figurehead - picture below (and other Britannia metal decorations). The instructions say these decorations should be painted to look like wood. I also understand that early on (2009-2010) there were resin versions of these decorations but these are no longer available. So I am stuck with the Britannia metal versions. I have never had much luck painting Britannia metal parts. The paint (and I have tried oil and water based paints) does not seem to want to adhere to the edges of the item. Does anyone have experience painting items like this and have a "tips" that I should follow?

I have the cannon assembly line in "full operation. Since I showed it previously I have made a few changes to my carriage assembly "jig". Experience is always a teacher. I added supports at the rear of the jig to hold the rear of the carriage level with the lowest level of the carriage resting on the support. I also added a block at the front to hold the forward end of the carriage upright and snug to the outer jig support. Here is what it looks like with two carriage sides inserted. To keep the sides from moving I clamped them to the outer jig supports using some clamps I modified so they were narrow enough to not block the axle locations. Using medium CA I glued the front and rear axles into the slots in the carriage sides being as careful as I could to get the axle centered. If I had to do it again I would find some way to include a centerline marker and have marked the axle centerlines to make lining them up easier. In any event here is what comes out of this jig. So here are the 28 12-pounders - 26 empty carriages and two that I am using to proof out the next steps. While waiting for paint to dry I started construction of a build board. So far I have a 48" X 16" X 3/4" laminated lined shelf that I cut grooves in to mount two strips of "universal T-Track". I have not yet built the fixtures to go in the tracks or a method for holding the keel but it will be awhile before I need to use this.