gieb8688

Copper plating finished
It feels good to have finished this stage of the build. Most of the individual plates had to be trimmed to fit and it is more difficult and slower with copper than with wood. 
 
The rudder was a pleasant change and I built it from 4mm thick walnut because the kit part was wrong. The wood came from the frets around some of the kit parts. I used copper wire eyes from the kit for gudgeons and pintles; for the pintles a short piece of thick copper wire was glued into the eye. Plating was slow around the pintles because of the complicated shapes. 
 

Rudder build up from 4mm thick pieces of walnut
 

Start the copper plating
 

Rudder with pintles, brass straps, wood fish plate on aft face
 
After constructing the rudder I rubbed down all the copper (and brass) on the hull and rudder with grade 0000 wire wool (thank you Wefalck for the tip) which revealed CA glue that had dried onto the surface. The glue I removed with a fibreglass brush which is a bit more abrasive than grade 0000 and also easier to aim at problem areas. When the glue had gone I applied the wire wool again and the same shiny surface returned. The final rubbing down was lengthwise along the hull so that there would not be different surface effects from the angle of the micro-scratches. 
 
To preserve the finish I applied Renaissance wax (thank you Vaddoc) using a variation on the technique shown in the original Karate Kid movie: Apply the wax with a cloth, leave to dry for a short while, buff the wax to a shiny polish. I have now put on three coats and might yet add more. 
 

 
George
 

The final copper plates are now fixed to the hull. 
 
The infill plates between the main rows and the waterline plates are all individually cut to size and trimmed to fit. I kept telling myself that 'fettling is fun' but it became tedious, and difficult, to hold a small piece of copper and cut all the edges to get a good fit. Some of the plates have five straight edges and those could take an hour each. The tiny triangles had a death wish and leapt into the jaws of the carpet monster, never to be seen again. 
 

Waterline and infill plates at the bow
 

Waterline and infill plates at the stern, and a large thumb print which appeared even though I wore cotton gloves
 
Between row 7 and the waterline in the midship area there is space for a narrow row. I cut the plates back on both long edges so that the nail pattern was symmetric: it looks neater to me. 
 

Row 8, next to the waterline plates, has narrower plates than the others
 
The hull is finished but there is some more plating to do look forward to: the rudder is waiting to be built first, then coppered. 
 
I started a new thread about which varnish to use on copper plates and had an excellent suggestion about 'Renaissance wax'  which is used in museums (thank you Vaddoc). https://modelshipworld.com/topic/30576-varnish-coat-for-copper-plates/  Before that the plates will need a thorough clean to remove finger prints and glue residue. My thoughts at the moment are meths (methylated spirit, methanol) with a cotton bud, and a fibreglass brush that I use to clean wire for soldering. Any suggestions?
 
George
 
 
 

The copper plating continues. I have now glued the row of plates that lies along the waterline, port first and then starboard.
 
The first step was to peel back the 6mm wide masking tape and push pins into the hull on the waterline. (If you do this on both sides then many pins will get knocked out while handling the hull.)
Next I cut a 1mm wide strip from the supplied deck planking, which is 0.5mm thick, and dyed it walnut colour. This is then glued onto the hull above the pins. I started at the bow and pre-bent the strip before gluing with CA superglue. Then it was a case of working along the hull and using fingers from one hand to hold the strip against the next couple of pins while the other hand applied a small drop of CA. I used two techniques for the CA: one was to have a large drop on my work mat and I used a long pin to pick up a small drop from it. The other was to put a small drop from the bottle on the pin and then rest it somewhere convenient until the wood strip was positioned properly. Both work, neither is perfect. 
 

Pins along the waterline to align a thin wood strip
 
At the stern the strip is bent and twisted to follow the waterline, and cut to length where it meets the stern post. The wood is thin enough to be pliable and the CA holds it effectively. 
 
The vertical joints between the copper plates on the waterline should align with those in the highest row fitted so far (row seven from the keel, see photo above). (This is purely aesthetic on my part and I have no evidence for the practice.) It is important to work from the bow when fitting the plates because of trimming the leading vertical edges, so we need to know where to start. I set a pair of dividers to the length of the plates, aligned one point with one vertical edge in row seven, then stepped along the wood strip. This showed that there should be a small triangular plate at the bow, about 2 to 3mm long on the strip. I made an executive decision to ignore this because it would be structurally weak and on my Whiting the first full plate started at the bow. With hindsight, I should have fitted the waterline row first and then plated the rest of the hull to match the vertical joints, starting from the keel. 
 
The Amati plates come in port and starboard flavours. For the waterline row I used the 'wrong' version so that the edges with many nail marks were facing aft and down. 'Facing aft' is sensible because the overlap suits the flow of the water. 'Facing down' has no evidence, again, but it seems more likely because the shipwright could attain a neater line with these plates than with the sloping and tapering ones which meet them. From a practical, modelling perspective it would be very difficult to make odd-shaped plates that had the full set of nail marks on three or four edges. 
The plates are gently bent and twisted so they lie on the hull, and then a triangle is cut off from the leading edge so that the plate butts against the one before it. This is vital at the bow and stern but along the middle of the hull the trimming is minor. For small triangles I held a plate with pliers so that a long edge was resting on my work mat, then cut slivers off the short edge with a knife pushing down. A sliver took off about 0.1mm so the process was quite controllable and a final clean-up with a sanding stick gave a good edge. Where a large triangle had to be removed I used scissors first, then the knife.
In a few cases the edges that butt against the wood strip would leave a gap. One method I used to counter this was to trim the long edge into a shallow curve, the other was to run a knife point along the wood strip to make a groove that hides the copper: this was better. 
Gluing the individual plates with CA needs three hands unless you have a method for applying small drops, as for the wooden strip above. Once one drop grabs and stops the plate from sliding it is easy to apply more drops around the edges of the plate, pressing the plate down to expel the air from any remaining gap. 
 

Plates fitted on the waterline
 
Both waterline rows are now in place and the next job is to start filling in the gaps. Lots of trimming to come. 
 
George
 

More coppering, this time doing the complicated bits at the stern, keel and bow. 
 
Keel
The main run of the keel was laid as a long strip, glued to one side. I then carefully bent the strip along its length so that it also covered half the lower face of the keel. Repeat the process for the other side of the hull and most of the keel is covered, though with an overlap between the two strips. I considered cutting back one or both sides to give a butt joint, but chose the easier solution because the bottom face of the keel will not be visible. 
The front and rear portions of the keel include the support stands. I pre-bent the copper strips and filed in a semicircle to fit around the stand. Then it was gluing and overlapping at the bottom. 
 

Fore, port section of the keel with my 50 year old needle file
 

Keel, aft end, with copper fitted around the stand
 
Stern post
I had continued the run of plates from the hull onto the stern post, bending them where necessary. The protruding ends were cut back in three stages: 1) cut with scissors or end-cutters, 2) cut with a knife, removing small slivers, 3) filing with a sanding stick. I then reduced the width of a short strip of plates by cutting off the heavily nailed edge and glued it over the end face of the stern post. I guess that the shipwrights would do this, or lay the plates horizontally. The finished result on the model will be mostly hidden by the rudder so it makes little difference. 
 

Plates extending from the hull onto the sides of the stern post
 

Stern post with plates on the end face
 
Bow / stem post
Unlike the stern post, I plated the bow separately from the hull. I cut and fitted pieces to the sides starting from the waterline and working down to the keel, trying to keep parallel to the waterline. The piece next to the keel was a complicated shape and needed a lot of trimming and test fitting. After these pieces I filled in the gaps on the hull, again with more trimming and test fitting. 
 

Side face of the stem post. The ends have not been cut back and the remaining plates on the hull have not been fitted yet
 
I wanted to represent the nails on the front face of the stem post and achieved this with two strips of plates. One was the offcut from the stern with lots of nails, the other was about 3.5mm wide and the pair give a symmetrical look to the nail pattern. The vertical join between them is sometimes visible, depending on the angle of the light. 
 

Wide strip fitted to front face of bow
 

Front face of bow fully plated. The join between the left and right sides is visible here
 
There is one more coppering job to do, which is up to the waterline. I plan to glue a thin wooden strip (1mm x 0.5mm?) above the top edge of the blue tape, then use that as a datum for the plates which will need a lot of trimming. In the meantime I think I have earned a beer or two for tonight. 
 
George
 
 

Bit more progress with coppering a lady's bottom. I have fitted the plates which are mostly whole (apart from a little trimming) which leaves the complicated and difficult plates around the edges. It was quite straight forward to fit most of these plates in strips of various lengths. The marks on the photo below are where I scraped away excess CA adhesive.
 

 
I have completed one difficult bit which is to infill the 'stealer' between rows two and three at the stern. This was time consuming and included holding plates with tweezers so I could cut back an edge with a sanding stick, all under an illuminated magnifier so I could see what I was doing. Differences of 0.1mm are visible so there was a lot of cutting and test fitting before I was satisfied with the result. 
 

 
George

Another three rows of copper plates are now fitted to the hull, mostly in strips. At the bow they curve upwards and leave triangular spaces against the blue tape that marks the top row. At the stern there is a stealer gap that cannot be hidden and I placed it between rows two and three. The strips of plates for rows three, four and five follow their natural lines on the hull. 
 

 
George

Before fixing the copper plates I marked the waterline in the time-honoured way with the hull upside down and a pencil taped to a block of wood. I then pressed on some 6mm wide masking tape with its upper edge (lower edge on the photo...) aligned with the water line. The top row of the copper plates will run along here and the tape will show me when I need to cut the main plates to fit. 
 

Marking the waterline
 
The tape wrinkles around the bow and stern where it curves across its width. The plates here will need careful trimming when I get to them. 

Masking tape to show the position of the top row of copper plates
 
And the coppering begins. 
The Amati plates come in two small sheets (port and starboard) and I scored along one of the lines then bent the plate to separate one of the rows. The plates have a fake overlap and do not need a real, physical one on the model, which means that you can apply a strip rather than individual plates. That said, the longest strip that I could fit by the keel was four plates long. 
Learning points for me:
Start at the bow and work towards the stern for any one row. The plates have to be trimmed to fit and it is better to cut back the 'underlap' edge rather than the 'overlap' edge which has extra nail detail on it Make sure that a plate or strip fits by cutting back the 'underlap' edges. I found filing with a sanding stick worked, as did running a knife along the edge to remove fine slivers. Cutting with scissors is good when removing larger areas but cutting with a knife against a ruler, as for wood, distorts the copper To fix a strip, apply cyano acrylate (CA) superglue to the back of the second plate and angle it up slightly from the first plate. Now position the first (dry) plate, hold it down, then fold down the second plate and let the glue grab. Then lift the first plate, apply CA and press it down. The CA grabs quickly and I had to lift a few plates and try again because there were gaps where I did not want them To fix a single plate apply a small drop of CA near one end then position the other end against the adjoining plates. Hold down the end then let the other make contact and press down. If the gaps are too big then the plate is easily  pinged off by sliding a knife point under it The glue bond will not always be sound and a lifted edge can be repaired by applying a small drop of CA and then pressing down the plate with a cocktail stick. Wipe away the glue that is squeezed out Fitting planks is easier than fitting copper plates!
The three plates further from the keel were applied in one strip. The cut-back plate was then fitted into the gap
 

Plates near the stern were applied in strips or individually. With this magnification the etched joins look different from cut, butt joints. The folded parts on the stern post will be trimmed off later
 
Those two rows of copper plates are about five hours work, but the second side was quicker than the first. It will be a lot more than a couple of evenings to fit them all. 
 
George
 
 

5. The Rudder
It is apparent that Dumas changed their mind when designing the kit. The illustration on the front of the box clearly shows a support bar attached to the skeg to the bottom edge of the rudder. The instructions when fitting the plastic strip to the keel was to stop 1.5inches from the end of the skeg, thus permitting the fitment of a support bar. However, the support bar was not provided in the kit and the instructions for the assembly of the rudder was limited to the soldering of the shaft up through the Hull.
 

 
Given the large size of the rudder and the fact that it was made with quite thin brass sheet, much thinner than that normally used for a rudder, I decided that fitting a bottom support would provide some protection against it being bent if the boat was grounded. The rudder now looks like this:
 

 
That completes the work on the hull for the time being, the construction of the superstructure is next.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The deck has now been fitted to the hull. I glued the planks to the sub deck and completed the assembly by sanding and applying a number of coats of clear varnish. The deck was then trimmed so that is was a snug fit inside the hull and glued in place with 90 minute epoxy. Thus I had time to apply the glue to all the surfaces before it started to set. The deck was weighted to keep it against the frames and allowed to set overnight.
 

 

 

 
Rather than just glue the Hawser Pipes to the surface of the hull I cut slots through the hull to make it more realistic.
 

4. Hull completion
I have now made progress with fitting the various plastic strips to the hull.
 

 
Before starting the work on the deck I decided to make and fit the mountings for the motor and the rudder servo. Two of the frames were cut back to improve the access, one of these was added as an extra to improve the rigidity of the planking.
 

I have made further progress with the planking. The mid-section and stern are looking good.
 

 

 
At the bow one or two of the balsa strips cracked at the frame where it was being stressed. The instructions say to chamfer the edge of the frame which I did. I thought the balsa would be pliable enough to avoid this but obviously not. I tried soaking the strip in hot water but this had little effect, it still cracked. The result was that the strips that had cracked went straight across instead of having a curve. Having experimented with some filler, which disguised the problem, I decided to press ahead without trying to soften the strip. This can be seen in the photo.
 

Planking continued.
 
Made a start with the planking. I tried using CA glue on the frame edges but where the strip was under tension it broke away leaving a sliver of balsa on the glue. So I am using wood glue, takes longer and does require some inventive clamping but good progress is being made.
 
The next two photos show the use of the clips. The black clips are the Amati Clamp Set (pack of twelve).
 

I am now back on the build.
I have given careful thought to the comments made by Tom and Roger with the conclusion that if I pressed on without making changes then I risk being disappointed with the end result. So, to be sympathetic with the frame structure, I made three new frames and glued these in the three large gaps.
 
For the planking I shall use the balsa wood supplied because (a) I have it and (b) it is pliable enough not to need any pre-treatment.
 
The hull now looks like this:
 
 

2. The Frames
 
For each frame I marked its correct position on the baseboard with a line that was perpendicular to the keel. Glued each frame to the keel in turn using 2 part epoxy which gave me time to position it correctly. Used 2 metal squares on the baseboard to check it was vertical. I started with Frames 5, 6, and 7 as the tops of these were all equal, corresponding to the flat part of the deck. Either side of these the deck rises.
 
When I started to position the sheer strips (1/16 x 1/8”) along the edges of the frames it was clear that Frame 1 was not in the correct position, it was too low. There was no drawing that showed clearly the position of Frame 1. Also, the front of the keel K1 had a notch in it which was not shown in the drawings.
 
I had assumed, incorrectly, that the notch was to locate Frame 1. This was why the frame was incorrect.
I managed to break the glue and remove the frame with only minor damage to the keel, it lost a bit of its outer plywood. Frame 1 was then glued back as shown in the photo.
 
 K1 with notch                           F1          
 
 
 
 
                                                                                                                                                                     
The structure was completed with no further problems, I was pleased with the end result. It was very uniform in shape with no distortion.
 
 
 
 
3. The Planking
 
I am busy over the next few weeks so the planking is on hold.
 
 
 

Greetings all, as a winter project I decided I would like to build the George W Washburn. For a number of reasons:
·         I liked the look of it
·         Wooden construction with plank-on-frame hull
·         Good size and within budget
·         Build logs on MSW to refer to
 
On opening the box, I was quite impressed with the contents of the kit. The Instruction Booklet is 56 pages long and there is a separate pack of drawings to go with it. There is basswood for the structure, balsa for the planking and some plastic parts. The quality of the wood seems to be good.
 
It is my first plank-on-frame boat since I scratch built a Police Launch in the 1980’s so class myself as a beginner. There is a comment in one of the Forums that ‘single’ p-o-f is for the more experienced builder as there is no second layer to cover up the faults of the first. No pressure then, however the instructions for the Dumas Kit were more encouraging. It says the model was designed to make its building as fool proof as possible. We shall see!
 
The length of the model is a bit of a puzzle. From the keel parts I estimate the length of the finished model to be 800mm (31.5”), this agrees with the 1:1 scale plan drawing supplied. But the box lid gives it as 30” (762mm). On searching for the length of the actual tug boat I could only find one source which gave it as 140’. Divide this by 48 and you get 35”.
 
The existing Build Logs were published by lb0190 in 2013 and MarkBseau in 2014. I shall try to spot if Dumas have made any changes to the kit since then.
 
As per the instructions I made the stand as the first task. Although not needed until much later it was a chance to try out the adhesives. I am not much of a fan of CA glue, I shall mostly be using a waterproof Aliphatic Wood Glue and 2 Part Epoxy (Araldite). For some weird reason I used the wrong strip wood for the stand, 1/8 x 1/4 instead of the correct 1/4 x 1/2. Not a good start. So, I made two new ends and built it again.
 

 
1.  The Keel
 
No problems assembling the keel except that the bass wood strip which formed the basis of the keel was oversize, it was too thick by just over 1/32” thus preventing the frames from being fitted. Rather than plane down the thickness to suit the frames I purchased a new piece of strip 6 x 15mm and planed that down to 6 x 12.7mm.
 
 
For the prop shaft, the Material List gives the tube as 5/16” diameter and length 5-3/8” and the shaft as length 8-13/16”. This means that there is 3-1/2” of unsupported shaft, probably not a problem but not a technique that I would usually follow. In the UK most suppliers stock complete assemblies with the shaft having about 15mm threaded protrusion at each end of the tube. The tube would be fitted with bushes at each end to support the shaft and possibly come with the option of an oiler tube.
 
I usually fit an oiler tube with oil being used instead of grease. Though it is important not to have oil in the prop shaft when commencing sailing as this can result in a slick on top of the water. So, having finished sailing I would prop up the bow and ‘inject’ oil using a lever action oil can. Any water in the prop shaft gets ejected, I then leave the boat propped up for a few days until no more oil is seen around the end of the shaft. Thus the tube is clean on the inside and the bushes lubricated. I purchased an 8” assembly with M4 threads at each end. For the oiler I cut a piece of brass tube and soft soldered it to the prop tube with a 3mm hole through to the shaft. This can be seen in the photo.
 

 
 2. The Frames
To follow.

The planking is now complete. The photos show the raw planking with no sanding or filling apart from the patch at the bow. The next step is to seal the inside of the hull with resin.
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

I have now applied clear epoxy resin with a single layer of fibreglass tissue to the inside of the hull, this has strengthened it enabling some serious sanding to take place to the outside.
 

 
 
The outside is now nearing completion, it has been filled and sanded with numerous coats of Deluxe Materials SAND'n'SEAL.
 

Happy new year.⁹
 

Thank you very much Tiziano 

Although I am a new member and new to wooden ship building, I have wood working in my resume and can say that this is awesome.
I really like the detail that you have given to make this happen.  I have an HMS Victory that I am "rebuilding" and although daunting...i am learning.  I wish i knew the scale of my ship (I will post questions later) because, I have already ordered wrong size parts.
 
I will follow this close.
Thanks Sir and Merry Christmas.
Ray

Hi Albert, thank you to show your good work.
 
On the photo, you have 2 milling machine from Proxxon.
Is the FF230 much better than the MF70, is there a big difference between these 2?

Thank you very much. 
Photos. j

Photos 

Thank you scrubbyj427.  Photos

Thank you, guys!
 
I had the final part of my new laser purchase finally arrive this week, a monolith of an extractor for my new machine. I can now use both machines, as they both have their own extractor and air assist. (I think I was engraving two lots of Sphinx decks on the new laser, in the pics)
 
A little more news:
 
1 - I can get hold of pearwood dowel. Is this something you would like in kits, or have an option for, as it is more expensive?
 
2 - Alert - I have started a 'Version 3' of this, and will be the final version, after bringing it up to my latest standards. This will be available once all V2 stock is gone - BUT, it will be £20 more expensive (All kit prices need to increase, in fact, as materials are getting more expensive, but will hold all prices for as long as I can). Alert 3 will need to cost more because the laser cut gratings are included, and the cannon carriages have been re-worked to have the cap squares integrated with the part, as per the Sphinx carriages. Laser engraved decks will be standard with this kit and the white metal anchor set replaced with a black resin 3-d printed version, eliminating the last trace of white metal from my kits. I will have to have the Alert manual updated when next printed.
 
Staying with Alert - I am having a full sail set made for this kit, so a pre made set will be available early next year. The company that is doing these is the same that do the sets for Amati, Occre etc, and are not the same very high quality I get from the (much more) expensive current sail sets, and this will be reflected in the lower price, compared to my existing sets. I love the sail sets I have now, but they do take an age just to do 20 sets, and I am forever running out of stock. An alternative was sorely needed. I have ordered 100 sets each for Alert and other kits (Not Speedy, Flirt, Duchess or Sphinx)
 
And finally, as I am writing this, something just arrived that I gave up all hope of seeing this side of Christmas - a 50kg pallet chock full of fresh photo etched brass and copper from Italy, that I was running short of! All I am waiting for now is my damned Nisha and Erycina sail sets.....
 
Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!
 
Chris