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flyer

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  1. flyer
    It's about time for a little update on Pickle. The work in the wharf went rather slowly lately. The weather was just too nice and part of the family spent a few days in Ireland where we also visited Trinity college and almost found traces of Steven Maturin there. At least the wonderful library still seems to be in about the same condition. (One pub or another was also visited and the good news are: there is really good beer beside Guinness!) The people are nice as well, their music is great and the weather was like an beautiful English summer: whatever you took along on your stroll, umbrella, pullover, windbreaker, nothing - you were always wrong. On Pickle the boat which was sawed in two is whole again and the fiddly work on the carronades rigging goes on. This Dublin pub opened in the year 1770! the launch is in one piece again rigging the carronades really is fiddly work...
  2. flyer
    Hi Michael "I hope that I'm not missing something that I don't yet see??" In my case this are usually the glasses... But generally I would like to introduce you to a certain Mr. Murphy, who says on such a subject: "The probability of a certain part to fail, get lost or missing is in reverse proportion to its accessibility!" That means that you only have to consider which areas are practically inaccessible after finishing your ship - that's where you have to look for forgotten details. Easy, isn't it? But in fact I just wanted to say: Outstanding, excellent, beautiful work. Cheers Peter
  3. flyer
    Hi Martin You're right about carronades being easier to handle than the same calibre long guns. However, if you check NRG's article Cathead is referring to below, you see that Pickles carronades still weighted about 300 kg (I assume that's just the iron weight) - yes that sailor better watches his toes. Hi Frank The coppery things are hidden in the basement - safe, so far. And yes, I'm quite confident now about the outcome of my boat-shortening-experiment. Hi Cathead That is a really very interesting article from NRG! Thank you. The carronade from the Model Shipways kit then weights about 870 kg and still doesn't have a train tackle - hmmm. Reloading after shooting that beast seems easy because the recoil puts it in the appropriate position. But I wonder how a dry gun drill was executed. You could always haul it back with handspikes but I think this could damage eventually the wooden surfaces where you put them in. I will leave train tackles to Pickles commander. He can do a retrofit if he needs it. Me, I take a rest. (I like your avatar.) Cheers Peter
  4. flyer
    The coppering of the rudder is finished and the building of the boat goes on. Also the serial production of the carronades has started. As a trial I rigged the first carronade. Instead of using the kits blocks I ordered the smallest available from Cornwall model boats - again following B E's lead. While putting the tackles in place I found it strange that there was no train tackle. It would be used to pull an unfired gun inboard and to stop an unwanted running out of the piece. First reference was B.E.'s Pickle - no train tackle either. Searching further showed no train tackles on carronades with one exception and those suspicious train tackle eyebolts on the Constitution's and some other carronades. As earlier stated the Pickle's carronades are small and could probably be pulled back without tackles and the static friction of the slide could be enough to hold it in position. Furthermore I found one example where the carriage and the slide were lashed together with a few (7?) round turns, fixing it against unwanted movement. I decided to forego the train tackles and their eyebolts. work in progress The first carronade is rigged. It should be possible to move it inboard with the strength of two man without a tackle.
  5. flyer
    Hi Michael Your Wasa really is an outstanding beauty - almost more real than the real thing. However you could (and should) omit those unloved semi-nudes. Behind that wall but a deck lower was the rudder-stand where the helmsman was standing and steering with a whipstaff. He was completely enclosed and needed an opening just where your figures are placed to hear the commands of the responsible officer or pilot standing just in front of that place on the open deck where he could see the sails and the sea. You could take the figures away and create small rectangular opening. I didn't find out how it should look exactly but perhaps somebody else remembers from a visit in Stockholm. Kind regards Peter
  6. flyer
    Hi Nils Ok, you got me there. I cheated. The waterways aren't built exactly (they should be rounded out) and I omitted the inner end by drilling deliberately below deck level from the outside. To show both ends you would have to drill from both sides to the middle (and hope you meet there). The inner end would be located in a copper plate covering a rectangle in the waterways, it's width the height of the waterways. Hi Martin Well, I thought the wales must hold the hull together also lengthwise. The extent able to take the stress would be its smallest square section (the one reduced by the scuppers holes). This reduces the usable size of the wales by perhaps 20%. Of course there are some other planks holding the hull together as well but the wales seem to have to take the main force. Anyway, my Pickle didn't fall apart yet... Cheers Peter
  7. flyer
    Work goes on in different positions. I made a simple template to drill the holes for the ringbolts for rigging the carronades and finished the empty gun ports. Also the coppering of the rudder goes on - it's a bit complicated because every plate is bent around the backside and must be cut to size. The Work on the boat continues as well. While touching up the paintwork of the hull I came across another problem: The scuppers. There are a bit too many on the plans. Comparable vessels in my clever book show only two to three per side. But the main problem is that they are positioned much too low - below the wales. The position is given by their function - they lead water from the waterways overboard. And in all examples I found in my sources they were always above the wales. Drilling an experimental hole from the waterways outboard ended in the upper, less prominent wale. I didn't want to weak a wale by drilling holes through it but I had no choice. But by having only two scuppers per side in approximately the right position seemed an acceptable compromise. I don't know if there are mistakes in the plans about the relative heights of deck and whales ( the deck should be 5mm higher over them) or if my solution is a correct one. Changing the build to have the scuppers completely above the wales would be very difficult and alter the whole hull. For scuppers I used again my 'Ader-Endhülsen' (wire-end-sleeves?) from the electric department. They are made from aluminium and painted copper. template finished empty gun ports scuppers
  8. flyer
    Hi Jason Thank you for your vote of confidence - fact is that I simply ignored the possible transition. By cutting a similar distance both sides of the widest part of the hull I hoped to reduce it to a minimum and fortunately resin is a great material. You can bend it, it holds epoxy - glue quite well and finally you can sand it into a smooth form. (Plan B was to leave the oversized launch on land and sail with the little skiff only.) Hi Martin Yes, we do have some copper thieves over here, the price for copper being as high as it is now. Sometimes they steal overhead traction wire or earth cables overnight of our railway system. You probably knew already that captain Jack is a deft hand with his fiddle or his sword. Now we know that he is quite fearless with a carpenters saw as well. Cheers Peter
  9. flyer
    The future commander of Pickle was checking the polished copper. After a lengthy discussion he decided that that the 19' launch in the kit was too large to stow on board. I mentioned something Jack Aubrey once planned: To increase the capacity of his boat he wanted to saw it in two (at its widest beam) and to lengthen it by inserting several frames. I suggested to do same but the other way around. The decision was taken to try to alter the 19' launch into a 16' longboat by cutting out the mid section, gluing both ends together and adapting the remaining form to represent a longboat as depicted e.g. in Granados description. The commander thinks that we will have to put a guard on this. The shine could attract some copper thieves. jolly boat and 19' launch after the cut... much more work will be required, but the size looks promising
  10. flyer
    Hi Nils Thanks. I will then leave the color scheme as it is now. Thank you Mike The boxwood broke and splintered a bit in one of the tighter bends on both tries I did. Filler and paint cover this. Hi Mobbsie Yep. The lady still needs some make up. I would have to polish the plates anyway to get rid of the CA stains. However re-patination would be possible. Cheers Peter
  11. flyer
    The capping rails were added and the taffrail was trimmed a bit, a bit of filler put in and all the rails painted black. The outline of the hull is now completed. It looks - in my opinion - at lot more like schooner from the early 19th century than the unchanged kit. The paintwork has now to be touched up in several places. The few missing copper plates are installed as well and the whole copper awaits some polish. I will remove the glue stains and any patina. Starting from shiny conditions it will get its own patina over the years.
  12. flyer
    Hi Nils Please be careful when using your high tech saw. I shudder when I see that arrangement. But be confident - I actually used to know a carpenter who still had all his digits after years on the job (he only cut some tendons on one of the fingers). Take care Peter
  13. flyer
    Somehow that carpenter in the last picture was able to go on board and start to work there. The taffrail was made by bending a 5 x 1 mm (the same profile as the capping rail) stripe of boxwood around the stern. Before fixing it with epoxy glue and nails it was painted. Then, after trimming the ends and repairing the damage done during bending and attaching it was sanded and painted again. It looks ok but a bit plump. I will fix the capping rails, check the overall picture and then decide if I need to trim the taffrail. The taffrail after gluing on... ...and after trimming to final size.
  14. flyer
    The transom has been planked, inside and out and the gun ports opened. The stern looks quite acceptable now but I'm afraid the taffrail will be tough to work out. still in need of some painting Presently only one carpenter is working on Pickle with one foreman. Slow...
  15. flyer
    There will be dozens of them sea cucumbers - but 20 fathoms below Pickles keel on the sea floor. Too bad we can't see them.
  16. flyer
    Hi Martin Actually it's not much larger - just overhanging a little bit to right and left. The available space will be filled by the gun ports and the name board. Decoration wise a capping rail around the transom as shown on the plan of Laura will have to do. Those small and fast vessels didn't probably stay in one place long enough for the bystanders to appreciate any fancy woodworks and I don't see any decorations in publications about vessels of that class. Pickle must shine solely with her functional design and the cleanliness of her deck. As I'm no riverboat, fortunately a romantic decoration with seaweed, clams and some dirt is also beyond my skills. Cheers Peter
  17. flyer
    The inner bulwark planking was now glued on and the gun port openings were finished with knife and nail file. A template for the transom was made from 0.5mm ply wood and glued on. It will now be planked out- and inside. The kit's template compared to the new one The light yellow on the lowest plank on the bulwark will be the colour for bulwark and the stripe above the wales
  18. flyer
    Hi Jason Welcome aboard and thanks. Hi Martin Yes, now it seems a 12 lb ball had a diameter of 4.4 in or 12 cm. If you try to avoid capture of your small boat by a much larger enemy, those balls could give him something to think about while you make sail and escape as close to the wind as possible. Browsing the net I find, that the capture of USS Essex was the only documented case where an enemy stayed deliberately out of carronade range to reduce a prize to a hulk before actually capturing it. I guess I will have to live with those carronades and work on the sailing qualities of my Pickle (not very great yet). Cheers Peter
  19. flyer
    Hi Spy It seems they really used those tiny carronades. (Perhaps we shouldn’t think too much about that. Otherwise some remarks about men’s preoccupation with size could be provoked.) Hi Frank Thank you. That’s the kind of deck you get if you keep it out of the weather… Hi B.E. Thanks. I understand, a carronade is a gun where precision is traded for caliber. Probably we should compare this 12lb carronade to a 4lb cannon in the same scale. And I really would like it if Caldercraft could change the design of their copper plates. But perhaps they follow the look of the plates on the model of the Bellona while Amati could have taken Constitution’s plates as an example. Nevertheless I believe that in the 19th century they knew enough about hydrodynamics to avoid such protruding nailheads. Hi Mobbsie Welcome aboard! No log of your latest build? Hi Nils Thank you. Cheers Peter
  20. flyer
    The deck planking has been laid but awaits some more sanding and scratching to bring it up to a standard any self-respecting bosun or first lieutenant would expect. In the meantime I started fumbling with the parts of the first two carronades and completed the assembly of the first one. I put it provisionally in place to check the gun ports. The weapon looks rather puny and the commander not too happy about his armament but that will be all he gets. At least I will put in additional two carronades to stock up to the eight mentioned in the web. Those six provided with the kit leave Pickle definitely too frail. Some additional sanding is required as the caulking seems to be spilling out of some seams... Carronage assembling reminds me of Swiss watch making Those seem rather small weapons.
  21. flyer
    Hi Michael Maybe you better go the hard way and replace the complete outer plank over that hole. Removing and replacing one plank should be manageable. Then you can move the knight head up to 1 plank towards the center line. And if you like to remove that framing – you could probably cut it away carefully with a knife lying as flat as possible. White glue doesn’t penetrate far into the wood and you could perhaps just scratch the remaining stains away with a knife (a sharp one like a scalpel with a round blade works fine). I really admire your dedication to details. Cheers Peter
  22. flyer
    Hi Nils This will be a beauty. I’m looking forward to a very interesting build and would like to thank you for sharing this experience. Cheers Peter
  23. flyer
    Hi Nils You are right, of course. Above I tried to explain why I ordered some 38cm planks. Hi Martin Scarf joint would be the right thing but I tried to cheat a waterway without having to make those real complicated joints. Thanks for compliments. Cheers Peter
  24. flyer
    The waterways were puzzled together by irregular ‘scarf’ joints, then cut down to a width of 5mm freehanded with a scalpel. The joints are not caulked (in the prototype waterways and king planks are keeping the deck together in its length and need solid joints) and should be inconspicuous. Therefore I do not fumble with scarf joints true to original. The inner bulwark planking will cover the outermost mm of the waterways bringing their width down to 4 mm which corresponds to the kit supplied deck planking. Close look of first plank stepped into the waterways
  25. flyer
    The deck planking has started. This time I try to get a bit more sophisticated deck. Waterways have been made by some additional 6mm wide stripes. Then king planks and uninterrupted binding strakes are laid. Now the ‘normal’ planks are being laid but they will be stepped into the waterway after the first 4 planks from the centre line. I also thought about tapering the planks but decided against it as not all sources show this and it would be very demanding as the 1mm thick stripes used in this kit can hardly be bent sideways. Caulking was again imitated by painting the edges with a black marker pen. Waterways are formed (in 3 parts) from 6mm wide stripes King planks and partners installed The definite form of the aft deck end will be found with the attaching of the transom

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