gieb8688

You make progress when you can.  I have affixed the futtock templates for ten half frames using around one and a third  boards (3 inch by 24 inch, 1/8 inch thick).  For comparison sake, using the expedited method created two half frames per board length if memory serves correct.
 

 
Many different techniques that probably vary with wood type, but for basswood I evenly apply a coat of rubber cement to the wood and allow to dry, usually around 5 minutes.  Then I apply a second coat and apply the paper templates to the wet surface.  You have around 5 seconds of maneuver time to slide them around before I apply pressure from the center and rub outwards to insure flat and totally affixed.
 
After getting the other ten halves affixed I will rough cut out using the scroll saw and cut the mating joints using the Byrnes saw with my sled.
 
Mark

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007
 
As promised I'm back to show more details on the work done .....
 
Here I will show the results of my work in the stem area. During these activities I accidentally broke a piece of the stemson, just near the figurehead should be installed.
 
The reason of this accident was due to the wrong direction of the wood fibres, that made the piece fragile. To repair the mistake I had to:
- glue the broken piece
- plank in the right direction some strips of mahogany (1x5mm.)
- level the three strips in ramin (the quasi-white wood) and install three new strips over them.
After that the piece is fully repaired and strong enough. The only problem is that now it is two millimeters wider.
 
In the last photo it is possible to see also the now finished lateral reinforcements of the wales in the middle of the hull.
 

 

 

This model represents my return to active shipmodeling after 40 years of inactivity . .
 
Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007
 
These three images are showing the model as it was yesterday, June 23.
 
They show the overall model. With respect of my previous messages I have done some new activities that I will show and explain better in the next messages, that will follow soon.
 

 

 

Lawrence, David, Bill and Jerry,  Many thanks.  I was out of town for the past several days and just returned.
David, the acrylic case with wood strips sounds like a great idea.
Bill, I can't imagine the Victory without a case. I think it would be a dust catcher, and little hands (grandchildren and great grandchildren) would eventually find their way into the rigging.  I'll likely follow what I did for the Constitution.
 
I made a case for the "USS Constitution" of glass (tempered, so that the glass would break into tiny bits if shattered).  Brass trim was added and when the top front is lifted, the front glass sheet can be lifted out for easy access.  And finally a table was made to fit the case.  The Constitution however, was somewhat smaller than the Victory.  It's a museum.
 
The model of the Constitution without a case.
 

 
Completion of the case.
 

 
And finally the supporting table.
 

 
Cheers, Gil

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007
 
May 2007.
 
And this is the Santisima Trinidad after I have terminated the second planking.
 
I had to spend three hours with sandpaper, and in very few places with some colored filler ... before to achieve this result but I think it is satisfactory.
 
The photos have been taken before the application of the oil. For this reason the color of the wood is not fully enjoyable. With the oil it looks much better. Now I have to wait two or three days to allow the oil to dry and the next activity will be the istallation of the whales ....
 
But to do this I need to think a way to curve properly the strips for the whales (mm. 2 x 4).
 
I'm thinking to adopt the following method: build some woodden blocks of the right shape of the curves and lock the strips (kept in water and ammonium for sometime) in the between.
But I need also time to do some other tests with steamers and/or a candle. There are also special pliers. After I will decide.
 
Bye to the next time .....
 

 

 

 

 

The second planking is completed sanded, filled, and sanded again and lastly finished off with wire wool, I have also lined the gun ports with lids, all the gun ports have been painted. One thing I did do was to add a 1mm strip to the bottom of the keel as to my eyes the distance between the planking and the keel bottom looked to narrow.
 
Bow planking

 
Stern post and stealers

 
second planking completed


 
First sanding

 
Filler aplied

 
Lined gun ports

 
Extra wood added to allow easier lining of bow gun port

 
After final sanding


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ray,
 
Good Luck with your Diana. I just completed mine this past December. This is the oldest but one of the best Caldercraft kits. Overlook the poor instructions, toss 'em. The plans are quite good however, the materials are excellent. I loved upgrading this kit.
 
I have some photos in the completed ship gallery here you may want to look at - you know, inspiration! As you'll see, I decided to not copper her. I agree that the Victory Models copper plates are considerably better (I used them on the VM/Amati Mercury brig kit, same scale). YOu may want to think about this approach. Diana's lower hull lines are beautiful and the walnut planking does finish-up quite nicely.
 
Cheers!
Ron
 
 

Hi Guys thanks for the ticks
 
Jason I did not make the futtock strops as per the instructions I bought Amati 3mm deadeye futtock strops and hooks much better and very cheap. Some photos below.
 

Painted matt black

 

 

As promised gents here is my latest update.
 
SHE IS FINISHED, well to be truthful she has been for the last two weeks but I have been waiting for the display case to arrive, no luck yet so I'll post without the case and base.
 
I want to thank everybody who has followed this build and those who pressed the like button, to get 75,500+ hits has really taken me back and I thank you all for the support, help comments and advice, there has been plenty along the way and it's all been good.
 
This will be last big build for a couple of reasons, the first being space, I don't have enough space at home to display them properly, the museum has taken the smaller ships but it still leaves me with a problem, secondly is the repetitive work that these big ships require, there's a huge amount of planking, plating, gun making and gun rigging and so it goes on, so from now on it's only small stuff.
 
Hopefully this will be a one time only event, but I have a few shots of my first build, HM Brig Badger alongside Agamemnon, both are 1/64 scale and the difference is really surprising. Badger took me 4 months from start to finish and the Aggy has taken 19 1/2 months.
 
Anyway enough talk, lets see the pics, first up the two together.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I'm going to close this post and I'll open another with just the Agamemnon, I hope you enjoy these shots.
 
mobbsie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Just a few more pictures of where i'm at, at the moment.
Struggled a bit rigging the gun tackle, seemed to take an age.
Then you cover most of it up with the top deck.
 

 
 
 
 Finishing of the head rail assembly now, can never seem to get that quite right.

sorry I haven't posted for a while but here's where I'm up to
at the moment. just started fixing the yards. recon ive got
a couple of months left before launch,
 
George 

Final steps in stowing the anchor.
 
An eye splice for lashing the anchor ring to the cat head.
 

 
Anchor ring lashed to the cathead.
 

 
Cathead tackle shifted to a sling on the anchor shaft.
 

 
Anchor in the stowed position.
 

 
Next up.  Fastening the cable to the anchor.
 
Gil

Anchor tackle at the cathead with the anchor ring in the hook. The line seized to the hook is the messenger to bring the block to the haus hole for retrieving the anchor.
 

 
Anchor ring hooked with the messenger line seized to hook.
 

 
Stowing the anchor.  Chain supporting the shaft.  Anchor ring still supported by the cathead tackle hook.
 

 
Another post follows

Well folks, one of the last parts have been made and installed on the O19, it's the Low Frequency transmit antenna.  That was a lot of fun to do.  As I was making the parts I changed a few things in the process.  In the end though it looks exactly the same as on the drawings and photos, which makes me very happy.
 
I immagine that this antenna can be removed and stowed when not in use and for submerged sailing.  I tried to do the same but the parts on the antenna mast keep falling off when handling the model so I just made it permanent.  We'll just have to imagine they can be unhooked.  
 
The cradle cables at the bow and stern can be removed though.  I made a few hooks that hook into the eyelets for that purpose.  
 
I'm very happy with how she looks and for all practical purposes she's finished, except for the dingy, the crew and a few spare parts.  I'll keep this log open till the dingy is done and the display board and case are completed and she's on display in my studio.
 
Here are a few pics of today's the work I did on the antenna over the last few days.  I could only devote a few hours a day, too many chores to do.
 

This drawing shows the general layout of the O19.  The Low Frequency antenna is shown at the top of the profile picture.  As I have mentioned before there were a few changes the builder had to make by request of the KM (Royal Navy), which I incorporated in my model.  
 

One of the changes I made was by removing the bracket I soldered to the mast top.  In its place I soldered a small piece of tubing to the mast top.  I attempted to make this thing move up and down via a simulated pulley system and then also with removable hooks that hold the antenna wires.  Thinking about it some more I slapped my forehead and called myself domkop.  This mast can be lowered and raised by the crew unhooking it would be an easy task.   Yeah, I could have made the guides as hooks and drilled holes in that small cross piece but just soldered them in.  Who knows, I may redo this at some other time. 
 

This shows the bridle cable assembly.  I made two, one for the bow and for for the stern (duh  )  The cable is made from two 0.08 pieces of copper wire from a telephone wire and then twisted.  The "trapeze" looking thingy is just a piece of 0.2 mm brass rod with a 0.1 mm brass wire soldered to it, then a small 0.5 brass tube where I soldered everting in.  A few small hooks from 0.2 brass rod.  
 

The bridle cable is hooked into the bow antenna and cable cutter frame.  The bridle is kinda blending in with the low frequency sensing antenna but it runs above it.  The stern picture shows it better.
 

The bow hookup seen from a different angle.
 

This shows the details of the antenna mast.
 

This is a better picture showing the antenna bridle and cable hooked into an eyebolt fastened to the aft deck. The crew escape hatch just misses it.
 

Starboard profile from the stern with the completed antenna installation.  We can also clearly see Remco's decals and flags.  They kept poor Remco from doing much work on his King Fisher   As you can see there is a nice stiff breeze blowing.
 

Starboard profile from the bow with the completed antenna installation.
 
Cheers,

Adding more details.
 
Making the Davits
 
Styrene used for foot steps.
 

 
Holes shaped by the drill to simulate line passing over a sheeve.
 

 
Guys and jackstay added.
 

Davit attached to hull.
 

 
Line weighted to create curve in jackstay. (Fast C/A between clamps, Clamps moved and second application of C/A)
 

 
Forward hinge at hull
 

 
Topping lift
 

 
Tackle for cutter
 

 
Aft block and hook
 
Haven't built the boats yet, but I'll have to study Grant's lovely cutters, pinnace, etc.  Cheers, Gil
 

 
Topping lift
 

 
Lines left to right, guy, topping lift and jackstay
 

 
Termination of topping lift from block on mizzen mast through block on deck ring
 

 
 
 
 

Hi all,
 
Years ago I read "Sailing Alone Around the World" by Joshua Slocum, and in January 2012 I decided that I would build his boat, the "SPRAY", in 1/48 scale POF with bent framing. The way Slocum built it.  I started asking questions on this forum, and I want to thank all those who answerd with help.  The information on this forum is invaluable.
 
Then the research began.  In the first chapter of his book, Slocum said he was given an old "fishing smack".  So I looked for fishing smacks of 1800.  About when his was built.  Someone suggested the "Emma C Berry" for framing, so I hunted for information on that boat.  I also gathered as many plan drawings of the "Spray" as I could find.  About five.
 
Now it was time to check and redraw the plans.  The first thing I discovered was that ALL the plans had errors.  Things like, the shear and section views would agree and the shear and the plan views would agree, but the width of the plan was no where near the same as the width of the sections.  Of the drawings I had, the drawing from the appendix in the book was the closest.  So I traced that into an old copy of AutoCad and worked out the errors.
 
Checking the fishing smacks plans had shown a frame spacing of from 15" to 22" I chose 18" for framing the Spray.  I drew a section at each frame.  I offset a line .031" inside to subtract the 1.5" planking Slocum used.  The frames will be 3" X 5" so again I offset another line .062 inside the planking for the frames.  This gave me the section lines for the plug I will carve to shape the frames.
 
I am going to plank only half the deck and deck houses so I can show the insides, taken from the sketches in Slocum's book. (See below)
 
Bob
 

Hi to all out there,
 
Just to let you all know a little of my history, I'm a widower (having lost my wife to cancer 4 years ago), am 66 years young and disabled, served in military uniform for over 36 years and am now retired, hence the start of this hobby, I used to be one of the directors at the Heugh Battery Museum, until I resigned to look after my wife in her last days, so I am now a volunteer there, and the Heugh Battery is where the first person in England to be killed duringf World War One, and we have been restoring it from a run down car park and 'vagrant' area since the year 2000, we are now open to the public, and have lots of artifacts (that you would expect from both World Wars) 'plug for the Museum', see us on www.heughbatterymuseum.com.
 
One of the artifacts we have acquired is the model of the HMS Warspite  (Queen Elizabeth Class Battleship), she was built in 1912, launched in 1915, the over the years went through a lot of refits. The model we got from the Imperial War Museum was in a terrible state when we received it, (lots of parts missing and broken) it turns out that she was originally (the model) built by some shipyard apprentices to a very good state, but when some of the refits took place, the model was also updated, only not always by the same apprentices and this shows.
 
We received the model in a massive wooden box (where she had been stored during the Second World War, (for safe keeping), evidently this box had not been opened since about 1940/42, so a decision was taken to restore her to her refit of 1942, so the hunt was now on to find both plans and help to  put her right again, we received her in July 2013, we then asked around the volunteers as to who would like to take on this mammoth project, after a lot of 'head scratching etc'., it was decided that three of us would do it, Glenn (myself) who would do the most of the metal work (as I have a full workshop including a Lathe and Milling machine along with other machines) and the repair and replacement of some of the parts (which we have to source), along with painting and all the other 'mundane' work, Ken who took on the job of project leader, and works very closely with me, and Allan, who only wanted to do the ' deck planking' and a really good job he is doing of it, including putting cotton between the planks to give the nice black line between them.
 
I am going to copy all this onto another page when I post some of the photos that we have taken, (as I'm not sure that I'm doing this right.
 
So folks, that's all for now, if anyone wants more information, please don't hesitate to contact me and I'll try my best to answer you, thank you for reading all this, I hope I have't 'bored' you all to tears,
 
Sargofagus
 
Thought I'd add some photos of the progress, we have taken loads of the parts we have been able to strip down, but there is lots of 'bits' that we are going to have to source, the plans we are using is a book produced in Poland and is in Polish (also in English) and this has helped us immensely, we have to work out the scale as the full size, then reduce it to 1/48th scale, (but it is working), if anyone out there has any 'better' plans that you would let us have this would be fantastic, we are restoring it to around the 1942 period. Thanks again for your interest,
 
Sargofagus 
 
OOps forgot to add the photos, (you can tell I'm new to this) lol
 
I'm the one on photos 11, and 12, Allan is the other person on the photos,
Thanks
 
 

Time to continue

A little addendum to the story of my Druid.  Grand Rapids (here in Michigan) has hosted for the past six years an event called ArtPrize.  This is a city wide hosted event focusing on art, both professional and amateur.  There is a prize purse in excess of half a million dollars so this isn't small.  This year saw 1536 entries spread over 174 venues.
 
My wife wasn't impressed with a lot of last years entries and said she was going to enter the Druid, which she did.  So I earlier this year became an official entry of the 3-D category (with 346 of my closest friends).
 

 
I ended up being hosted by a seafood restaurant actually directly across from the art museum:
 

 
Over the course of the last week and a half I have been on site talking about my work to over a 1000 people.
 

 
I made up small business cards to advertise (standard fare for this event) but took it up a notch with a customized card holder:
 

 
I do not want to turn this into a 'what is art and what is not' topic but I was the only ~accurate model based entry (all years).  It was a little hard to keep my ego in check with the consistent outstanding comments people directed at me.  There was lots of "My Grandfather / Father / Son would love this / used to do this."  "I grew up with one of these in the house and have always loved them...."
 
The feedback was worth it if nothing else.  I did meet a special youth that I invited over for some ship modeling discussions.  Peter has faced a lot of challenges but has been working on a model of the Titanic with popsicle sticks and pictures (no plans):
 

 
There is a lot of interest out there in models, particularly ship models.  Do not be afraid to engage and put yourself out there,  I can tell you the rewards are huge.
 
Stay Building my Friends,
Mark
 
 

Greetings (again).  Returning to MSW after a bit of off time (eg I just completed my 5th sprint triathlon).  I have not been idle and have lately been kicking it into high gear with my version of the HMS Druid.  Believe it or not, started in 2003 (two kids and a couple of homes ago) but looking to finish in the first quarter, 2014.  I have loved every minute I have spent - probably a little over 300 hours so far.
 
I just finished with the bow assembly (sans the eking rail which will wait until the cathead is affixed).  Previous to that was the stern caprail.  I believe I am on the downhill of this build.  Next up is finishing the rudder metal work and then working up from the berthdeck finishing all the details.
 
Additionally I have made progress on my Lady Anne and finished the DaVinci wing (currently on display at the Michigan Aviation Academy), but that will be a subject for another day.
 
Mark

Hello,
 
No words but deeds, so for today more pictures than talking. I am busy with all kind of (paint)jobs and the ship is approaching its completion
 



















 
Regards, Kees

Some of wooden blocks with weathering - I use Tamiya acrylic paint for this:


 

Greetings,
 
I have completed the spray shields, I have to admit it took a couple of attempts at getting the curve in the correct place.  I have to admit I have lot's of cleanup work to complete but that will all come before the final coat of paint.
 
 
 

 

 

 
Now on to the engine room hatch!
 
Cheers,
Tim