dvm27

Doris had posted a video, long ago, of her sculpting the figurehead. It was her usual meticulous method of turning a blob of clay into a work of art by adding a bit of clay here and a bit there. I recall her spending several minutes fine tuning a leg and hoof that already looked perfect to me. No smoke and mirrors involved - just the same building up process she used for the smaller carvings. 

Another huge fan, Doris. Would love to see you demonstrate your techniques at a Nautical Guild Research meeting one day!

Continuing with the main mast. 
 
I painted the areas of the mast red or black to suit.  Then I simulated the mast bands with black masking tape.  The tape was cut into strips 1/16" wide and wrapped around the mast a few times to get the correct thickness.  Before anyone asks how thick.....just until it looks right.  Not too heavy.  I wrapped around twice and it was plenty.  Then I used some rusty brown weathering powder to make it look different than the painted mast and more like metal.  I will only use brass or actual metal when absolutely necessary.  In this case it isnt needed.  Then I finally made some eyebolts using 22 gauge black wire.  I drilled holes through the bands and inserted the eyebolts.  I also ran some pencil over the sheaves I made on the mast to make them look different and stand out a bit more.
 

and a close up view....
 

 
At the base of the mast, it was painted red up to the band there.  This band was made the same way but this time 3/32" wide tape was used.  The eyebolt was made using 20 gauge brass wire blackened afterwards.   I cant find pre-blackened 20 gauge wire.  The mast isnt permanently stepped yet but the mast is now completed.  I will now make the boom and gaff....
 

 
I also made the 7mm deadyes that we will need for the model.  These are just like the kits I offer.  Three layers are glued together.....then I remove most of the char from the outside.  To finish them up I throw the in my block tumbler to soften and round off the edges.  Not to long though...or they will get funky.   These are boxwood and not cedar.  The cedar is too soft to make these.  You can see four deadeyes that were released from the spru with no sanding or laser char removal.  The other group is ready to go but no finish has been applied yet.
 

 
Any questions please dont hesitate to ask.

Thanks Joe and Capt Morgan. Sorry for the delay as I was out of town for a couple of days. 
 
Ok the planking has been completed. Here is the hull prior to adding the wales and a preliminary sanding with 220 grit.

 

 
and then after the wales were added. The wales was just a second layer of 1/32" layed over the last two strakes.
 

 

 

 
The last five strakes were the most challenging requiring slow minor changes and constant checking. I had about 20 hours invested in those five strakes.
As I said before the pre-spiled planks were awesome. Now it's time to set her free from the building board.
 
 

Ok a bit of warning here. If you are anything like me you WILL either break a plank or over sand/adjust one or more. I have 3 racked up so far. Here is what I did to get a nice new plank almost as good as the original. First off be careful removing the planks from the sheet and set it aside not breaking it just in case you need to make a copy. I took the sheet that the broken plank came from, clamped it on an area of another planking sheet that it would fit on. I then traced the plank, cut it out carefully sanded it and test fit it. 
 
Hopefully you won't need to do this but just to be safe save those sheets the planks came out of. 
 

Of course, all of us do realize that paper is merely a by product of wood anyway, right?  

I procrastinated on planking for several months.  When I was initially looking at other Fair American builds, I really liked how the planking turned out on @KenW's build and thought his model looked great with the planking left natural.  I know that my planking skills won't allow me to leave the hull unpainted, but I wanted to get as close as possible.
 
So, I found myself fearful to start planking.  My previous build, the Bluenose, had very simple lines and didn't require any sharp bends, tapering of planks, drop planks or stealers.  I knew I'd encounter all that here, and just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger and start the planking.
 
While attending the NRG conference in October, I got a lot of encouragement and advice.  I returned from that trip highly motivated, and jumped right into planking.  I realized that the worst case was that I ended up needing to use wood filler and paint the hull, which is actually correct for this model anyway.
 
I started by dividing the lower hull into 4 bands.  I did this by laying tape onto the edge of ever bulkhead and trimming it to fit the keel and wales.  After the tape was removed, I used proportional dividers to divide it into fourths, then put the tape back on the bulkheads and transferred the markings to the bulkheads.  I used some thin wood strips pinned into the bulkheads to create the bands.  (At least until those strips got in the way and I removed them and relied on markings on the bulkheads.)
 

 
I started with the garboard strake, which I mistakenly didn't make wide enough.  Oh well...a small detail that a casual observer won't notice.  I planked that band, then moved to the band next to wales, then worked my way towards the center.
 

 
The planks were cut from 3/16" boxwood sheets, so each plank was 3/16" wide.  Several months ago my puppy ate the planking material supplied with the kit, so when I replaced it I went with boxwood.  It is overkill if I paint the hull, but I felt that boxwood would hold the edge better than basswood when I needed to taper or bevel planks.
 
I'm not a skill level yet where I worry too much about being perfectly historically accurate, so I kind of faked the length of individual planks.  I find working with shorter planks easier than trying to fit one long plank, but I didn't want to mess with trying to add blocks to support plank joints that didn't land on a bulkhead.  So I went with planks of varying lengths that were close to scale length, but adjusted to the nearest bulkhead.  I did *try* to follow the rules for where planks should end so I didn't end up with joints too close to each other.
 
I found that dealing the sharp curve at the stern was difficult.  My planking there ended up being a mess.  At that point, I realized I would have to paint the hull since I'd need to use some filler, which removed some of the pressure to get everything perfect
 
Almost all the planks were tapered.  I didn't end up using any steelers, but I probably should have used one on each side.  I did use a couple drop planks at the bow on each side.  That was probably because of errors determining the plank widths for each band.  Once I started on the final band, I realized the planks at the bow would be way too thin.
 

 
Once planking was finished, it was very rough.  Fortunately since I had cut my own planks, I made them a little thicker than necessary to give me some extra material for sanding everything down.
 
Like I did with my Bluenose, I started the 'cleanup' by applying VERY generous amount of wood filler...basically covering the entire hull.  After that cured, I spent several days sanding it all back off so that the only filler left was between planks or on things that were very uneven.  I spent the next week slowly sanding those problem spots until most of the remaining filler was gone.
 

In the end, the hull is pretty even.  A non-modeler (like my wife), might say even say it looks good.  There are still a few spots where the filler is visible, but those spots are smooth to the touch so I don't want to sand much further.
 

I still need to sand a little more around the rabbet, but I'm holding off on that until I'm almost done filling/sanding/etc.  I don't want to risk over-sanding that and damaging the keel.

 
At this point, the process for the lower hull should be similar to my Bluenose.  Since I'm going to paint, the goal is to get the hull smooth.  I'll do another pass with wood filler to get any remaining gaps between planks (MUCH less than the first round...just hitting the problem spots), then I'll sand that down, followed by a series of sanding passes with 200 and 400 grit paper.  After that, I'll primer the hull and sand again.  At that point, there will likely be a few flaws that are visible and I'll tackle each of those individually.  Hopefully after that I can do a light first coat of paint on the hull.  I'm going to hold off on the final coat until I get further along in the build.

One of the loveliest features of some of the Navy Board models and Dr. Longridge's Victory  is the graceful catenary of the stays. I notice it developing in my only rigged model made 15 years ago. I suppose it's impossible to duplicate on a new model as real rope has weight, especially when wet, that just doesn't scale down to create a catenary. I have seen this replicated with rope spun around a wire core (Lloyd McCaffery) to very good effect.
 
The photo with the fully loaded fairlead planks is fantastic, Ed!

You are truly an artist, Doris. Just noticed those elegant scarph joints in the wales.
 
Also love the work on your beakhead bulkhead. Will there be doors eventually to allow passage?

You are truly an artist, Doris. Just noticed those elegant scarph joints in the wales.
 
Also love the work on your beakhead bulkhead. Will there be doors eventually to allow passage?

New update, fixed hull gap problem. I decided to go with all 5 windows even if it's not historically accurate. Occre kit is not accurate by default so I will go with my own vision. Last two pictures are blurry because there wasn't enough light when taking pictures with my phone.
 

Doris had posted a video, long ago, of her sculpting the figurehead. It was her usual meticulous method of turning a blob of clay into a work of art by adding a bit of clay here and a bit there. I recall her spending several minutes fine tuning a leg and hoof that already looked perfect to me. No smoke and mirrors involved - just the same building up process she used for the smaller carvings. 

You are truly an artist, Doris. Just noticed those elegant scarph joints in the wales.
 
Also love the work on your beakhead bulkhead. Will there be doors eventually to allow passage?

Doris had posted a video, long ago, of her sculpting the figurehead. It was her usual meticulous method of turning a blob of clay into a work of art by adding a bit of clay here and a bit there. I recall her spending several minutes fine tuning a leg and hoof that already looked perfect to me. No smoke and mirrors involved - just the same building up process she used for the smaller carvings. 

Chris  you're right, it was hard to do. It’s like cutting yourself. But the wound heals quickly ...  

Have set the boardsides.
I made them with some extra margin, having refined them at place. The battens have been bent before the installation. In order to install the stern I had to construct a small conductor.

HI everyone, I've been doing some work on the model yacht, slowly moving along.
 
The main sheet block in the cockpit sole is a snatch block, a popular detail for smaller gaffers here is the photo below - & it's not a very good shot, but the main sheet goes below the sheave & the wraps around the side of the block body & is held by a cam cleat. This is so you can quickly let out a lot of mainsheet, & it's easier to bring the main sheet on by pulling downwards (rather than upwards) & then to secure the sheet at this block as the last thing.  The mess of black stuff at the bottom is a bundle of shock cord that's to make it a stand-up block. I'm sure this doesn't at first strike anyone as a good setup, but you can't bear away at all on a breezy day without easing the main, & if you need to do it quickly you have to dump a lot of it fast.
 

 
I selected a strip of Spotted Gum that is the same thickness as a brass sheave, & made the ship from cut strips.
 

Then roughly shaped. The parts for a cam cleat are there, the eccentrics on the cams were soldered blobs on a solid rod, then sanded to shape. Some more shaping on the timber required. I plan to make it a stand-up block with some spring from a plastic pen.
 

 
Other minor details underway are: the small lead blocks for the running backstay tackles are installed; & the mainsheet setup is underway. The smallest blocks are tiny etched ones & the main sheet is scale braided poly rope about 1mm diameter - a bit thin but but looks right.
 
thanks
 

 

Cumberland finished long ago and during this time another model was born. All this time of my silence I have been finishing another imperial yacht Queen Victoria. Here is a photo of my finished work on this yacht.

Doris had posted a video, long ago, of her sculpting the figurehead. It was her usual meticulous method of turning a blob of clay into a work of art by adding a bit of clay here and a bit there. I recall her spending several minutes fine tuning a leg and hoof that already looked perfect to me. No smoke and mirrors involved - just the same building up process she used for the smaller carvings. 

Today I finished the base and stand.  I used yellow cedar around the base after applying a sheet of burled veneer which was darker.  The hope was to make the boat stand out against the dark contrasting base.  I added some lettering around the base so now I dont have to make a nameplate.  Next time I will make the letters just a bit smaller but I am going to go ahead and use this one.
 

 
Chuck

Started on the main mast.  Because it is best to use the same wood as the rest of the project, a 3/8" x 3/8" square strip of cedar is being used.  You could obviously replace this with a dowel of another wood already rounded off but the difference in wood texture and color would really stick out.  Most of the mast and boom and gaff etc will NOT be painted.   Its a good thing to try if you havent done so...rounding off a square strip like this.
 

First I used the template provided to line out the strip with a 7/10/7 ratio.  Just transfer the tick marks for the two center lines every four of five inches down each side of the mast.  Using a 7/10/7 ratio will create a perfect octagon after the corners are shaved away.  This is being done to make it easier to turn this in a lathe or chocked in a hand drill.  The strip is 20" long and its much longer than you will need so there is plenty of meat on either side to chock this in your hand drill.
 

 
Then connect you lines with a sharp pencil so you have a guide when slicing and planing off the four corners.  I used a sharp #11 blade to shave and whittle off the corners almost down to the lines.  It doesnt have to be perfect.....then I ran a sanding stick across the flats created.
 

Then drill the holes that will be needed for the sheaves you will simulate on the mast later.  There are three.  It is easier to do this now while the strip is square.
 

 
This is what my mast looks like after I shaved off the corners.  Its ready for me to chock in my hand drill and taper it.  This will take a while to do and be sure you use a mask because it makes a lot of dust.
 
Here is a photo of how I do it in my hand drill.....this is from another project.  I believe this is the lower mast for Cheerful.  Or if you are lucky enough to own a lathe, that would be a good choice.  I didnt worry about creating the small shoulder or stepped portion of the mast for the longboat.  I will do that by hand once I create the general taper.  In the end the lower part of the mast turned out slightly smaller than 3/8" which is just perfect.
 

Then finally,  I was able to finish up those sheaves so they looked good.  To simulate the sheaves I used a #11 blade and some round needle files....you can use whatever you feel most comfortable with.  Here is the final results.  This was done after I created the stepped portion or "shoulder in the mast as you can see.  This was just done by hand.  The cedar worked very well for this operation and I was happy with the results.  More to follow....

 
 

Thanks everyone for the informative and complementary input.
Well somebody said at some time in the log way back that I was like a dog with a bone.....😀  The saga continues.
I thought about the baseball stitching a lot in the last day, and gauntlets are always compelling so thanks for that Bob.
 
A new ring slightly smaller in Diameter.

 
After three times flattening and annealing
 

 
Folding and drilling tapped 2x56 to clamp it together. and a strip of quite thin leather from a salvaged bit of clothing. to check the length.
 

 
The strip was marked with 2mm increments and a small awl punched holes.
 

 
After reading and watching some demos on the web I was ready to start, the one caution was to use blunt needles so I dulled a couple of fine needles for the job.
 
First threading.

 
Last and tied off.

 
Mama ring, Papa ring, and Baby ring.

 
I used the hook off the second Traveler on the new one. The leather and threads have been waxed I stained the treads a little to tone them down.
 

 
Reinstalled
 

 

 

 
And here it is clear of the bowsprit shrouds.
 

 
I'm done with this puppy and will be movin' on.
 
Michael
 

Thanks for all the likes and comments.  And Marc, never hesitate to point out something that I may have missed.  More eyes just means that fewer mistakes will get through to the final product.
 
With the model hull on the port side fully primed, it was time to figure out how to paint the complex and confusing ‘dazzle’ design that the troop ship bore. 

Dazzle camouflage, called ‘razzle-dazzle’ by us Yanks, was developed in England during World War I in response to Germany’s use of unlimited submarine warfare.  Credited to both a marine artist and a zoologist, the idea was not to make a ship invisible, as overall grey tries to do, but to make it difficult to estimate a target's range, speed, and heading.  It was intended primarily to mislead the enemy about a ship's course and so to make him take up a poor firing position.   It generally consisted of complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colors that interrupt and intersect each other.   It has been suggested that it works on the coincidence rangefinders used by submarines by making it hard to align the split images in the eyepiece.  The clashing patterns look abnormal even when not seen through a rangefinder.  Below is an actual photo of the USS West Mahomet.  Try to find the bow.

As seen in this 1922 illustration from the Encyclopedia Brittanica, dazzle can work for single ships, but for a convoy the appearance can be overwhelmingly confusing.  

 Its effectiveness was analyzed after the war.  Although British data is equivocal, among American merchantmen 2,500 tons and over, 78 uncamouflaged ships were sunk, but only 11 camouflaged ships sunk by torpedoes.  No camouflaged US Navy ships were sunk at all.  In the words of a U-Boat captain:
      “It was not until she was within half a mile that I could make out she was one ship [not several] steering a course at right angles, crossing from starboard to port. The dark painted stripes on her after part made her stern appear her bow, and a broad cut of green paint amidships looks like a patch of water. The weather was bright and visibility good; this was the best camouflage I have ever seen.”
     This may have been what he was looking at -

Fortunately I did not have to rely on photographs of the troop ship to get the dazzle design I needed.  The National Archives contains drawings of the dazzle pattern for Leviathan.  Here is the one for the port side.  This and the several photographs of the ship taken during the war were my starting point. 

Obviously, both the pattern and the photos are in black and white, but color was also a central part of dazzle camouflage.  For Leviathan it appears from the different shadings within the various areas of the pattern that several colors were involved.  The Brittanica page has a chart of all the colors used, but which colors went in which area?  Fortunately, the Merchant Marine museum has a large painting of the ship in moderately heavy seas.  It was done by Frederick J. Waugh, a marine artist who had been part of the American Camouflage Section which was responsible for designing the patterns for US Navy ships.

The painting was very helpful in identifying the look of the ship, but for model making it has some problems.  Careful comparison with both the drawn pattern and the photographs reveals some inconsistencies in the size and location of some of the camouflage shapes, so I went back to the photos for the final layout.  As for the colors, I was somewhat hesitant to rely on Waugh’s choice of hue and tone since he has other artistic factors to consider beyond exact reproduction.  Instead, I went back to the color chart on the Brittanica page.  It was clear that the page had yellowed somewhat, so I took the chart and adjusted the contrast, hue, and saturation until the background color of the page and the white color chip looked as close as I could get them, which is the lower set of colors.  After consultation with Professor Smith, we selected 1 Grey, 3 Grey, 1 Blue Green, 2 Blue, and White.

With those decisions made I took the dazzle layout and enlarged it to the size of the model.  Here it is, propped against the model.  I should have put them side by side for comparison, but forgot to take the photo.  So for comparison here is a shot of the port side from an earlier date.  The red things are the backs of our dining room chairs.

To lay out the design I knew that I could not simply cut out the pattern.  The model has too many curves that would distort the shapes, and I found that in any case the pattern did not accurately match the landmarks and dimensions of the model.   I would have to draw the pattern on the model by eye.  I decided to start with the bow, even though it is the most complicated area, because it had a clearly defined edge that could be reliably fixed to a landmark on the ship.  I covered the bow with strips of masking tape, then drew on the diagonal line at the aft edge starting with the point where the superstructure met the side bulwark.  Using the photo, the drawing and the painting, together with a small straightedge and some ships’ curves, I sketched in the outlines of the color areas.      

A word here about the tape.  It is “Frogtape” in the yellow formula for delicate surfaces.  I find that it holds quite well and releases cleanly with no residue.  I messed up drawing the bow pattern several times and had to remove all of the first layer of tape which came up without damaging the surface at all.  No connection to the company, just a happy customer.
          I repeated the process at the stern, which has a much simpler pattern, but has to work around much more acute curves.  You can see how the shapes had to be modified to hit the landmarks on the ship rather than simply taking them from the drawing.   Once the drawing was satisfactory, I cut down through the tape to the hull using a new paper cutting blade. 

The tape was burnished down and a sealer coat of clear acrylic was brushed along the edge to reduce bleeding.  Then the three open areas were sprayed with the 1 Grey color.  When the tape was removed the results were surprisingly satisfactory considering how uneven the surface is.  Only a little cleanup along the edges was needed.

Returning to the bow the long white stripe was cut and unmasked, burnished, sealed and sprayed.   When it was dry the area was re-masked with tape.  The inside of the bulwarks, the tops of the deck houses, and all other side areas were masked with tape and newspaper before the light grey areas were unmasked and painted.  When everything was dry the masks were all removed.  The result was a - - - Disaster!
          Despite the burnishing and sealing there was bleeding at so many spots that I spent more time hand-painting the edges than I had spent on the masking.  Ultimately I was satisfied with the sharpness of the edges and the layout of the pattern, but it took a lot longer than it should have.

With most of the kinks worked out I taped over the long midships section and laid out the pattern.

This time, after removing the masks from the Blue Green areas, I lightly brushed the paint from the edge of the tape inward toward the center of the area.  Using a fairly dry brush gave me no bleeding under the edge so when the tape was removed the edge was cleanly marked by a light layer of paint. 

A second coat was hand painted up to the edge to even out the hue and to make it fully opaque.  This was not difficult with the edges so cleanly marked.  The same was done for the light grey areas.  Here is the forward portion of the ship.

And here the stern.  I will never look at this without seeing a rabbit chasing an octopus.

 I wonder what the U-Boat captain might have thought, seeing this in his periscope.

By way of comparison, here is the boring black and white of the ocean liner.

Travel and family gatherings will fill the rest of the month, so I bid everyone a joyous Happy Holidays and excellent New Year.
 
Dan
 
 

Doris had posted a video, long ago, of her sculpting the figurehead. It was her usual meticulous method of turning a blob of clay into a work of art by adding a bit of clay here and a bit there. I recall her spending several minutes fine tuning a leg and hoof that already looked perfect to me. No smoke and mirrors involved - just the same building up process she used for the smaller carvings. 

Bob thanks for the compliment about the quality of my work I appreciate it a lot.
I'm afraid you lost me here bob. I am a visual type learner and a picture of what you are explaining would be really helpful.
 
 
In making my decision to do the leather the way I did was basically because all the examples that are clear on the net and the Commercial travelers for sale appear to be done this way. as these are from the net  sorry I don't know how to shorten the address without using the link in the header 
 
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjn_Yf57ITfAhU9CjQIHettDjEQMwhFKAowCg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.unlikelyboatbuilder.com%2F2015%2F06%2Foil-or-varnish.html&psig=AOvVaw0EGuwX9M6x0i_Yv6PWhW_u&ust=1543967409551916&ictx=3&uact=3

 
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjn_Yf57ITfAhU9CjQIHettDjEQMwh8KDQwNA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blackwaterleather.co.uk%2Fre-leathering-a-bowsprit-traveller%2F&psig=AOvVaw0EGuwX9M6x0i_Yv6PWhW_u&ust=1543967409551916&ictx=3&uact=3
 

 
And in the second picture you posted  the ring is covered in leather the same way.
 
Again Bob I used examples that I have looked at on the net for my inspiration as in this example on Polly Agatha relaxing at Cowes
 

 
or in this example of Betty in Amsterdam

 
or in this example on Integrity built by Stirling recently.

and finally this well crafted example on  White Rose from ClassicBoats
 

 
I certainly agree that there is a possibility of chafing of the leather as it gets close to the end of the bowsprit perhaps I need to make the ring a little smaller as in the example above. what is interesting about this example is that the sheave is on the bow side of the cranse iron whilst in the other example it is ahead. I don't need to say much about the way the leather is stitched although the baseball stitch would possibly be more aesthetically pleasing.
 
Perhaps I shall try it on a smaller ring sometime.
 
Michael