gieb8688

Ok here some updates as I near completion of the frame work of the hull and superstructure.

View from  the bow, showing the areas remaining to be built up with B&B lamination, the fan room and winch pad openings can be seen as well in the deck panel.
Simon H if you are watching, now you can see how difficult access to the thruster is.

This is the Midship Stbd showing the fit of the deck panels and side shell, there is still the 2mm to go on the superstructure side at top and of course then all gets the .4mm plating over everything.
The gangway door and tonnage openings recess are clear here in side of hull.
The missing bits on the puzzle joints on deck is just because the part did not quite fit on the CNC, but not wasting ply.

This shows the incomplete fitted out smoke room space and the hatch to access engines in the middle.

The stern fully framed and mooring decks fitted ready for plating in.

In regard to access of the rudder mechanism through the stern door you can see the rudder penetration that I am pointing to.

This shows the rubust structure that surrounds the "Lid"of the ship to keep it all straight.
And finally the Lid being assembled on my other bench.

The large arc shaped parts leaning against wall are the bridge floor and ceiling

good afternoon everyone
 
what a brilliant idea off swopping the engines over, lol what have i done to myself, no regrets its just not turning out as expected, the space (well lack off) is being made worse by (a lack of space)
anyway i plod on in my own way of making something good into a mess
the engine still has another 80+ bits to be fitted, and each bit has to be altered, so its ongoing
meanwhile another moment of madness to replace the molded wire on the bulkhead
im using .4mm wire for this oh and by the way non of this will be seen either, i just want to try my skills out and avoid finishing the build by christmas this year
i will put in at least another 10 cable runs
 
 

 









 

Good Morning,
I have been working away at the upper planking. This is a slow process, as the planks have to be fitted between the gun ports, allowing for a small rabbet.
 
I made two plugs that fit into the ports and have an outer frame that accommodates the rabbet.
 

 
This system seems to be working pretty well. I fit the plank against the first plug. With it cut to a rough oversized length, I then take tiny amounts off until it fits snugly against the second plug.
 

 

 

 
Everything is moving along well; it's just slow going. I will need to make two more plugs for the next row of gun ports as they are a bit smaller than the lower ones. The ones at the top do not have the rabbet, so that will seem very easy.
 
Thanks for checking in.
David

I'm working away at the second planking layer. There is a lot of ground to cover with this one!
 
On my Speedy, I didn't bother to lay out belts for the planking. Its hull is quite small and it didn't seem essential to me. On this one however, because it's so large, I think it is necessary. I wanted to try using a planking fan this time and it works amazingly well. I like because it is a very elegant solution - it's simple, low tech and works so effectively. (And it's a lot less expensive than a set of proportional dividers.) I downloaded a template from the forum.
 

 

 

 

 
Here is my progress so far.

 
Thanks for looking in!
David

Continue with rigging...
 


 


 


A little helper to assist with keeping the same distance for both blocks..
 


 


 


 


and the other side...
 


Some random shots of blocks and rigging details.. if someone is interested in following one rigging line specifically, let me know and i will provide few pictures...

 


From sailor' perspective...
 


From bird' perspective... hopefully bird is not fully fed.
 


 


 


 


While i was rigging this block, i rigged the wrong block, the one further on the left. All line was completed, ended in the third pin but had to do one more time, again. Practice makes it perfect..
 


Happy modelling..

Wrapping up the wok from yesterday...
 


A bit more progress.. weights on both ends to make sure the main yard is levelled..
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Happy modelling...

Lets do some work on main yard... this is a fancy knot for a main yard..
 

 

 

 

 


On the way up...
 

 


... and up...
 

 


One of two blocks that will need rigging...
 


Little helper to keep all in one place..
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Happy modelling..

The pedants are attached to the sail with special knot, and the rope length has to be adjusted; with installed sail, the pedants length will be different ..
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Staysail downhaul is also installed...
 

 

 

 


Happy modelling..

Making few 0.3mm ropes, using crochet lines and Golden oak stain. I usually cut the lines in 1mm length, deep one line at a time in the stain and pull it out, at the time i drop the whole line in the stain. This prevents a line to stay in the stain for too long. This allows me to somehow control the beige colour shade of the lines.. then let it dry for a day...
 

 

It is time to bring the model back on the table...
 

... and to replace the plan
 

All sails appears to be done..
 

Work will start on a jib by making a holes for rings.. and making 7 rings in 3mm diameter. The rings are blackened and polished before mounted on the sail..
 

Then the sail is attached ...
 

 

Then a tack cringle is attached to the parrel using a simple square knot. Next, the halyard is attached to the head of the sail..
 

... and it will be tight to the cleat using a 3.5 mm block with an iron hook..
 

 

 

 


Happy modelling...

Completed so far....
 


Still working on sails...
 

 

 

 

 


 


Happy modelling...

Marking the position of reef lines...
 

Production line, knot making process...
 

Freezing the top of a line with a drop of CA glue...
 

 

After making holes in the sail, the reef lines are pushed thru...
 

50/50 diluted white glue assist keeping the knot positioned...
 

The ship cradle, once turned up side down, serves as a good, small table for tasks that require precision and patience.. this is part of making a knot on the other side of the line..
 

 

 

 

After reef lines haircut is done... few lines still need a bit of adjustment...
 


Next sail, S1..
 
and completed...
 

Happy modelling..
 

blocks added to the hull with a few rigging lines added for ease of application later...

yards underway

Bowsprit now added although not yet fixed, and you can tell it is an old corel kit because of the style of the nameplate which i have painted and added the self adhesive 5mm lettering. 

the three masts have been completed with their respective blocks. Not yet fixed to the hull........like i said earlier....i bought this kit for £15.00....it is a very old version, but it is making a decent enough model.

Progress, main framework complete, time for secondary frames and stringers now.
hull stringers shown here on Stbd side are not pushed home, only sitting on to make sure I have them all.



Plenty of hand room at stern door for working on rudder assembly

 

Awesome Kevin... And just for you here is a present to remind you.

Progress



Smokeroom area


 
Glueblocks on joints

 
Lid longitudinals ready

Thanks Keith

Well this weekend I glued all the frames in and got the main longitudinal installed into the hull as well. they were a mission to get in so I opted to install dry and use glue blocks to fix in position, they are plenty strong enough and remember them from my furniture days when making staircases, a good glue block will not leg you down.
So well on the way, I have also assembled and glued all the other longitudinal bulkheads that make up the lid section as well, so will have that main frame done in another day work.
the hull is getting very rigid now and just have to make sure I install any remining stringers and such with an aluminium section clamped on so I keep everything straight.
I think another 3-4 full days work I will be cladding hull sides and decks.
I am interested in hearing from anyone who has done full on detail of model surfaces before or if someone knows of a post. I have said this before but I plan on having the weld seam, tin canning and steel texture on the mode, most is done with paint.
basically you apply a  suitable primer to the plates which are .4mm ply  sand with fingers between the frame lines to create subtle depressions, doing this on each plate before it goes on means it should vary per plate and look natural, then apply another coat and stipple it roughly. after its dry, sand it flat but leave the lowest points to give the pitted effect, I got this from military modeller who uses the effect on tanks, then glue on the plate and one a few are on glue the .5mm round styrene weld bead in place.
the bead is softened with glue and run over with a fine serrated roller to give the bead effect, then all that requires to be done is primer touch-up along weld beads. and painted.
Here is the effect
this guys work in suberb!.
I am interested in people thoughts with this, I have never done it but really keen to see what people think.
Its  a bit of work to prep each plate, probably 10mins per plate to paint and sand twice, but I think at 1/35 it will look good, I am not a fan of nice smooth hulls on larger scales, Wahine had a very distinct tin canning effect and I think it needs to be there if only subtle.
I have attached a hi res shot that shows the effect on her hull.

I am one happy son of a  you know what.
I test fitted a hull panel today ,actually 3 consecutive panels and an adjacent deck panel and it fitted better than I could have hoped for.
I also glued the first pair of longitudinal bulkheads together against a straight edge, this weekend will be a big one with main structure probably done.

Look at that fit!!

Notice the fit of the bottom edge against the B&B part.
Rhino's True shape development tools really do work thank god.
Part of Forecastle deck also test fitted

First Longitudinal BHD's glued
Now I am getting excited!!

Hello All,
Brief update today -
I have now finished the second planking on the lower hull, both sides. Next is planking from the wales up which requires cutting around the gun ports, It will be a bit slower job, but more interesting.
 
 

 

 
Thanks for looking in.
David
 

Doug,
Saw this very fine model of the Leon in a maritime model shop called Float a Boat in Melbourne. Took some photos...not great quality. But thought they might be a helpful reference perhaps.
Tim

 

John,
 
Thanks for reminding me to photo the oil lantern.  It's by GLX Scale Models.  They use 3D printing.  This one is 1:48 which apparently is O scale for railroads.  It's 1/4" tall so 12" full scale.  It comes with a very tiny white LED about the size of 2 periods next to each other.  I'm investigating ways of making it yellow - 1st try is to use yellow glue to glue the LED in the lantern - any ideas?
 
Thank you for asking me to photo this because you may have noticed that I used the ceiling planks as the background and I saw something in the zoomed version that is below that I never saw before - the little glue circles around the treenails. I have been undersizing the dowels by 0.002" (1/32" drill 0.031" and 0.029" dowel) because it is so much quicker to get the dowels in the holes along with a lot less breakage.  I did not realize that these rings were being left behind!  As irresponsible as it may sound I'm not at all sure that I am willing to forego the ease for the more correct look (isn't that terrible).  I've already done strength tests and the undersizing even up to 0.003" (as large as I tested) does not effect strength at all (I use thick CA for virtually every gluing task).
 
As far as San Francisco goes, it was a very useful trip.  Cleveland's was moderately useful.  Cleveland does make an interesting comment on Leon in a speech that he gave several times about building her.  He says that one reason that he choose to build Leon was that "There was so much material available about her".  He does not give a single example of that material nor does he give any references!  Needless to say I was a bit disappointed.
 
But visiting a 3 masted lumber schooner C.A. Thayer was very helpful and I'm waiting to hear from the captain of the ALMA, a scow schooner.  My issue here is the spacing between Leon's frames.  The % wood (i.e. full frame siding / center to center of frames) is 40% in Underhill's plans.  On larger ships it's always > 80% typically between 85% and 93%.   Here's the thing - By large I mean > 600 tons (ton=LOD x Beam x Draft x ().75/100).  This tonnage formula allows me to make the calc for any ship AND the always quoted 302 for Leon comes from this formula.  Below 600 the % wood starts dropping for many ships.  CA Thayer (480 tons) is 69%.  The Galilee (416) is 54% +/- 5%.  the Coronet (337) is 43% +/- 10%.  My grandfather sailed this beautiful schooner yacht around the world and my father was born on her.  The reason I'm waiting for info on the Alma is because she is only 49 tons but from the outside she looks like a traditional wooden ship (The companion way was locked so I couldn't get below to make the measurements myself).  This is important to me because I do not know if Leon's 40% is real (or perhaps I should say reasonable) or, as one guy said, "It's a stylized plank on frame model" with maybe a touch of disdain. 
 
The last point on SF is for human interest that I tripped on the first day on cement and got sores on 4 toes  (wearing opened toed sandals, you see) 3 weeks later I'm going to a podiatrist because my big toe is still sore!
 
That's a wrap!
 
Doug
 
 

3 Micro Book Reports -
Wooden Ship-Building, Charles Desmond - 1919, published for need of wooden ships circa WW I.  Useful scantling tables, great diagrams and photos.
A Practical Course in Wooden Boat and Ship Building, Richard M. Van Gaasbeek - 1918, published for need of wooden ships circa WW I.  1/2 boats (for methods) and 1/2 ships (Standard Wooden Steamship, LOD=282' Beam=45', Draft=24').  Lots of photos not much quantitative info.
How Wooden Ships Are Built, H. Cole Estep - 1918, published for need of wooden ships circa WW I.  Lots of photos not much quantitative info.
 
Progress - Not much change visually but lots of little mistakes are fixed particularly in the areas of the ceiling, bulwark stanchions and main rail.  What happened is that I have gone to 2 meetings of the Ship Modeling Society of New Jersey and the quality of work there is a lot higher than what I have been doing.  Therefore, I decided to pause on progress and improve on quality. I also fitted the garboard strake and the next two strakes with a stealer in the second that I think may be enough.  The garboard strake is made up of two pieces of wood that were edge glued before being cut and fitted.  Continuing improvement in quality of fitting is my name!  I'm using Underhill's method of setting out the planking hopefully ensuring that smooth, fair curves will be evident everywhere and from every point of view - the reference points can be seen marked on the frames about 3 plank widths above the 3rd plank.  I'll bring the bottom planking up to where the ceiling has been planked.  Then I'll be in a better position to decide what planks to leave out for visibility of the interior. 

With this post, I'm beginning a build log for Leon.  302 tons, built in 1880 in Norway, traded until 1915.  Model is 1:48, about 2 1/2 ft on deck.  Structure is all Swiss Pear,  planking - internal and external is Pau Marfin, rail and wale is Indian Rosewood.  Much planking and decking will be left off so that the internals will be visible.  I just ordered 6 little oil latterns with LEDs that will eventually light up the interior of the hold.  Most helpful resources so far are Underhill's Plank-On-Frame Models, Crother's American-Built Packets and Freighters of the 1850s, Tosti's Young America and various forums on this website.  Heading to San Francisco shortly to review Ron Cleveland's research material for his model of Leon in the 1970s.  Suggestions from anyone who has ideas about how to research the internal construction are more than just welcome, they will be warmly appreciated!
 
For now the bilge ceiling (meaning the common planks between the keelson and the bilge stringer).  Next, I'll be planking the exterior to match the interior.  I'm planking  inside and out, in sections so that I can best judge what to leave out for maximum visibility.  I haven't decided yet if I'll be cutting out some of the frames.  Until next time.