gieb8688

Hello dear friends and warmly thank you for all your comments and praise. Your words mean a lot for me and I am pleased very much.

 
Well, the crew is interested mainly in the bottles with delicious drinks inside the cabins. I have to watch them not to be drunk. Maybe during  the nights, when I sleep,  they have a party on board..... because sometimes some of them fall over during the model construction.
 
 
Best regards
Doris
 
 
The port is finished, all deadeyes are placed at the channels according to plans.
 

After many days cementing these small slats to the deck I finally put the last ones on this morning and added dye where needed.  As far as I'm concerned it looks okay, not great but acceptable. Gwen, the Admiral, says it shows character.  
 
Now I have to make a decision what project I should tackle next.  Hatch hinges?  Torpedo loading gantries?  Mines?  Torpedoes?  Finishing the AA guns?
I guess it'll have to be the hinges.  This'll be slow going - - - I'll be taking my time with this.  Not an easy project  because it's all part of an afterthought.  As mentioned before, I did not plan to make certain things workable but alas, after seeing the model of the O21 I got this wild eyed idea to do something similar.
 
Okay, I took the model outside and shot a bunch of pictures in front of the garage door.  This time I put the boat on two bricks which made for better pics.  I may not post all of them here - - - just too many - - - I got carried away, again.  Well, I kinda like the model as she looks now     
Hope all yuns like them.
 

Starboard side profile
 

Top view from the bow
 

Top view of forward deck from bridge area.
 

Looking aft along the hull from the bow.
 

Looking forward along the hull from the stern.
 

Top view looking forward.
 

Looking forward directly into the stern
 

Top view if the deck looking forward.
 

Looking at the forward deck from the bridge area.
 

Aft deck view towards the aft side of the con.
 

Gwen, the Admiral, took this pic to give all y'all an idea of the size of the model.  I'm 5 feet 8 inches tall.
 
Cheers.

Hello friends.
Thanks to all for his kinds comments.
 
Cannon barrel and gun carriage in the scale of 1:24,
built in between for demonstration purpose.
 
Karl

It may seem strange, but at one time the vessels plying the inland Great Lakes were some of the largest in the world. Even in the mid 20th century, most ocean going freighters settled comfortable around the 500 foot mark, lakers were already into the 700 foot range.
 
Thanks to the opening of the 4th Welland Canal in 1932, ships of up to 730 feet could make the transit down from the upper lakes (Superior, Huron, Michigan and Erie) to Lake Ontario. At that time, the largest ocean going vessel that could reach the lakes was limited by the locks and canals of the pre-modern seaway.  Smaller vessles, known as canallers, would tranship from lakes ports to ports on the lower St. Lawrence river. They were limited to a mere 261 feet long by 40 feet wide and a maximum draft of around 8 or 9 feet. These were small ships, but there were LOTS of them.
 
In 1959 the current Seaway was opened. This allowed passage of the largest lake vessels (at that time) to the lower river, it also reduced the total number of locks from 28 to 7, between Montreal and Lake Ontario. The old time canaller sailors used to joke, that they would litterally walk from Cornwall to Montreal. This also meant the end of "Canal" sized vessels, as they were no longer efficient in the face of the larger vessels. Aside from specialty ships (cement carriers or package freighters), most canalers were gone by the end of the 1960s. The last unaltered canaller currently sits at Industrial Marine and Salvage in Port Colborne Ontario. The crane ship "D.C. Everest" (1953) was last used as a barge. She now sits awaiting her eventual fate.
 
 
Another small update. Have completed the fo'c'sle bulwarks. Made of styrene sheet and strip. Each frame, and the bulwark was made from 0.030" styrene. The flanges and cap rail are all 0.015" x 0.080" styrene strip. I used the moulded on rivets on the hull as a reference for spacing the frames correctly. It will need a little touch up with filler along the bottome outside edge to fill any remaining small gaps and inconsistencies. But otherwise, I'm pleased with the result.
 
 
Now it's time to get serious tackling the stern and mid sections and get that hull put together.
 
Andy

First steps of this build involve the creation of anchor pockets in the bow casting. If you look at the prototype photo, you'll see the original had the anchors recessed into pockets. The model lacks these and shows simply an embossed ring where the hawse pipe penetrates the hull. Using a waterline marking tool, I marked out the top and bottom of the pocket (hopefully symetrical on each side), and then marked the sides. I drilled the four corners and then cut out the rough dimensions of the pocket with an x-acto saw.
 
Cleaned and squared up, the inside top, and outside bottom edges where beveled. Using 0.030" styrene I then created a basic pocket. A simple prismatic structure. This was then glued to the inside of the hull. I had a spare anchor from a previous build that I used for testing and reference for size. There is still a bit of refinment left to be done, mostly with some styrene shapes (1/4 round on each side and 1/2 round just below) as well as some putty work to smooth everything out.
 
It's important to do these kinds of modifications now, before hull assembly, as things get a little difficult to manipulate later on.
 
Doing this you can get a sense of some of the drawbacks of a resin kit. Very quickly on I noticed the wall thickness of the casting differed by quite a bit from side to side. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, since the kit was never designed to be treated in the manner to which I am subjecting it. This should be the last time I have to do any major modification through the lower hull. When the fo'c'sle deck goes on, I will use a piece of aluminum tubing to complete the hawse pipe connection. Although this detail can't be seen, leaving it off would leave odd holes in the deck that would not look right, and could potentially spill light where I don't want it. (Yes I am planing on illuminating some parts of the model).
 
Andy

Alright, photos as promised.
 
The stern anchor pocket is little more than a light baffle on the model. Given the confines of the area, and the limits of actual visibility, not much more is needed. The pillar in the middle is to correct a downwards bow in the deck at that point, and will remain in place.
 
As I said earlier, all the hull sections are now in place, as well as now the last remaining deck section. There is a considerable ammount of filling and sanding needed in order to clean everything up. Having the hull finished means I can also get to work installing some of the deck fittings, bollards and fairleads and the like. Since they will all start out being painted the same colour as the deck, I'm not worried about work arounds at this time.
 
Anyway, one more overview shot, from the stern this time.
 
Yes... she's big.... 4' 8" long...
 
 
Andy

Ok it is finished. Here are the final photos.

First off I need to say thank you to all those who look in and click on the like button.  It’s so nice to log on to MSW and see that red signal that says someone likes what you said or did. Again thank you.
 
Now to get on with the boat.  The planking is almost done.  A little more clean-up in the stern and mount the transom and keel.  Also the planksheer so I can mount the stanchions and the bulwarks and then paint.  Wow, I shouldn’t list things like that it makes it sound like a lot of work.  Anyway here’s the pictures.
 
Bob
 

 

 

 

The first part of the model I tore out and replaced were the Decks - the hull actually came after when I saw that I'd done TOO good a job on them . Here are a couple of pics from BEFORE :
 

 

 
The decks were ripped out using a flat chisel-point Xacto. I removed the whole quarterdeck as it was badly out of position :
 

 

 

 
Some pics of the decks after sanding smooth, filling and re-planking :
 

 

 

 
To be Continued in next Post

The hull after painting with Hammertone Copper. The particular paint I used didn't come out as a real hammertone, more like a very light ripple :
 

 

 
Wales and other strakes were made from new stock and re-fitted :
 

 

 
Some more particularly bad work around the Quarters. The kit instructions were to blame for a large part of this - no mention made of Fairing the frames at all   :
 

 

 
Wood Filler was used below the waterline. I laid new planking forward of the quarters themselves, and later fitted a roof over them (also not mentioned in the instructions).
 
To be Continued in next Post .....

I rebuilt and stepped the Masts - this took nearly a full day, as the holes on each deck and the bulkheads below them didn't come close to lining up :
 

 

 

 

 
I've also fitted about half the lower deadeyes and their chains - again, not historically accurate but that's what the kit supplied. The kit deadeyes aren't too bad actually - they are cast in Resin and the holes are better than most kits with wooden ones. The chains were already fitted to the deadeyes - I don't know if they came like this in the kit, but I suspect they did. It saved me a lot of work anyway :
 

 

 
The loose chains will tighten up when I fit the Shrouds. There are also a couple of Gunport Lids that will need re-fitting - I managed to loosen a few while fitting the Chains .... I'll fit ALL the Chains before doing this, as no doubt I'll disturb a couple more yet.
 
Continued in next Post .....

Thanks for the comments Bug, Craig, Daniel, Ollie, Grant, Craig and Blademaster .
 
 
Not really Ollie. I estimate about 45 hours so far.
 
I managed some more work on the model over the (looong - mine started on Wednesday ) Australia Day weekend.
 
The old guy had "built" the Masts, but they were so rough and out of shape that my easiest option was to scrap virtually everything and start over. I kept the Mast Tops, as I didn't have anything on hand to replace them with. I soaked them overnight in Acetone to soften the glue and paint, then cleaned them up.
 
Below are a couple of pics of the Tops and a Mast Coat from BEFORE :
 

 

 
And some pics AFTER :
 

 

 

 

 
I realize that the Tops are nowhere near accurate, but don't forget I'm attempting to build this model the way the old guy would have liked it to come out   .
 
Continued in next Post ......

The  rigging is finished, chainplates too. The finishing work still continues
 
Jan

So now that the lower rollers are all in place, I can turn my attention to the cross bracing at the bottom of the boom. Nothing really fancy. I've sent the cradle rollers off to be copied, so hopefully before then end of the month I should have them in hand, and along with my still MIA parts I should be able to get this unloading boom out of the way, and get on to the rest of the detail work about the ship.... oh yeah... and finish the hull.... enough of these dry-fit overall photos.
 
Andy
 
 

I graduated from the stern decoration. However, the Eagles did not put because had already broken. Sculptures of eagles really stick out beyond the outline of the stern ...

ready

The meeting continues, ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

Here's my latest pic of my SLOW progress. Being a full time dad, full time husband and full time employee, I don't have a lot of time for my hobbies! lol
 
 
Only 12 ribs to go!
 
I have not glued any of the ribs down as I am also researching where I'm going to be putting my controls. Per some good advice given on this great site, I'd like to be able to work on the keel without the ribs attached when placing things like the prop and the detachable ballast plate.
 

...

I finished the planking today and cut the boat off of the formers.








I started sanding the port side. I left the starboard side alone so that I could see the difference.


 
Marty, I am hoping that the glue does not screw up that stain. I really do not want to paint it.
I See no reason to use a plastic or cast metal ship's boat if you can build a boat to replace it.

Jon,
I also noticed the transom was short.  After I remade the keel, I noticed that I forgot to cut the notch for the transom, when I went to glue it. I thought about going back and cutting it, but decided that it would look better if the transom was a little higher, and it fit perfectly without it. If I had cut the notch the bottom of the boat would have been straight. The bottom of my boat is a little higher in the stern. I think it looks more realistic. Whether it is historically accurate, I do not know.

As for the shear meeting the stem, I just estimated based off of the drawing in the plans.
 
   

The image below shows the dry fit of the assembled jig. Once it’s glued into place, the real building of the ship’s boat will begin.

As I move to the gun deck (which is actually visible as the top main deck) everything added really has a big impact.  As I work to get the hatch coamings affixed I got one last look at a component that I was particularly proud of.  Once it was affixed most of the beauty was hidden but at least I have photographic evidence!
 

 
The following is the installed view  with and without the associated quarterdeck roof.
 

 
To permanently affix the deck beams I needed to add the waterways.  Given the flow of the hull, the waterway from the stern to close to the bow was affixed in one straight piece, slightly bent and glued into place.  For the profile, the same scraper was used as the berth deck.  For the bow, I used my favorite technique of using post-it notes to get the rough shape, followed by a piece of paper to refine, finally using the correct wood. 
 

 
When the port piece was cut out I was happy to find that by flipping it over it fit just fine in the starboard side.  I love it when these things like that happen.
 

 
Mark
 
Now on actually laying planks (as soon as the stairway coaming is put in).

I will skip over the ice storm, providing refuge to a family of 8, car issues, the holidays and such and actually do some modeling on the last day of 2013:  The object is the stove stack.
 
Into my stove I had cut a slot for an 1/4" brass tube which I procured locally.  Luckily I decided to just put everything in place with this oversized tube 'just to make sure.'  Well, it was very obvious the angle was significantly off:
 

 
Pondering this it all made sense.  The stove was sitting on a deck that had a slight pitch up towards the stem.  Looking at the plans the base of the stove was indeed angled to allow the stove / pots to sit level with the water line.  how many times have I looked at these and never seen that?  So I added the appropriate shim and brought the angle to rights:
 

 
With that taken care of I was able to use the deck beams to mark off the different levels.  These checked out with the plans (always a good thing) and I identified the height and angle required which I cut out with a very fine toothed straight saw:
 

 
After some silver soldering (got so excited I didn't take any pictures) the pipe was complete.  A good result for not so much work.  It still needs to be blackened but this will wait.  I really like the solid feel while still able to remove it out of the way for now.
 

 
This pipe now sits as Mr. Hahn constructed it.  I am still scratching my head if I will go ahead and construct the brass cover assembly.  Next job is the berth deck waterway so I can start planking that deck in.
 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
mark

covered with oil:


 
after drying oil tinting:




 
Everything. And so it did:


 
Sincerely, Alexander