dvm27

Thank you for your welcome comments, photos of assembly of the square frames, a greeting.

For example, Rob: 10 turns of DMC40 cotton thread measures .135", divided by 10 the thread diameter is .0135" which at 1:72 converts to 72 x .0135" =.972", times 3.14 (pi) this equares to a circumference, ie rope size, of 3.05", so I use this thread for 3" rope - about the average size.  Keep in mind that measurement error makes all these sizes approximate, but certainly adequate for modeling.
 
Ed

Just read through your instructions Chuck. I must say they are really well written! Along with that you have included enough reference marks on the scantlings to make it an almost fool-proof build. If I may just make one recommendation to the builders that was passed from David Antscherl to me (and I'm sure you already do this) is to have a small cup with water and a few sacrificial brushes available at all times. Clean every glued joint with the brush and water (whether visible or not) right after clamping or applying pressure. It is very difficult to remove glue stains after setting. You will have a much cleaner model as a result.
 
Just curious - is there any difference in joint strength when gluing charred pieces vs. scraped clean joint surfaces?

Ciao e grazie a tutti, siete tutti molto gentili, queste ultime coste sono abbastanza difficili da realizzare perché ho pochi punti di riferimento, infatti queste coste non sono disegnate.
 
Hello and thank you all, you are all very kind, these last coasts are quite difficult to achieve because I have few landmarks, in fact these coasts are not drawn.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto

So I needed a flag but I needed to figure out how they attached the flag to the halyard. After a lot of searching around I referred to an old Jean Boudriot book and found a depiction of one in his book of the BonHomme Richard. 
Im assuming this is how they typically secured them and it makes sense.  
 

 
 
The period is correct so I gave it a try.  The hardest thing to make was the toggles.  At this scale they were about a mere 1.5mm.  I turned down a piece of hardwood and wrapped the .008 rigging line around it. The Hoist of the flag (the vertical part) was left white and folded over the line and glued with thinned white glue.
 
The flag was made using Chuck’s method of tissue paper.  Here’s a link to his thread for the Cheerful. Cheerful Link
 
I chose a 13 star flag representative of the era circa 1790.  I used some some tissue paper the wife had squirreled away for Christmas.  Cut a small piece and taped it onto a sheet of 8x11.5 office paper. This acted as a carrier to feed the tissue through the printer.  Printed the flag then cut it to shape and sprayed some Krylon fixative. After gluing in the toggles I sprayed some more fixative on the flag to soften it and shaped it.  Viola La!
 
I attached the halyards and hoisted the flag to the truck.  Secured to the starboard deadeye.  Here’s some pictures of the finished product.  Making and attaching the toggles was fiddly but worth it in the end.
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
Next up is to make some rope coils and hang them on the boat and I’m done. 
 
 
Cheers landlubbers 😁
 
 
 

Hi, I finished cutting all the square frames pieces.

Thanks fellows.
Lou, that was funny, yet could seem bonkers 😮
_______________________________________
Sorry to show similar images. 
Spent the whole day dry-brushing the water surafce with lighter shades for the water crests. When it dried I was glad that it went darker, as previously explained. Now it's not so noticeable. Yet the whole water surface became slightly lighter shade
 

 

 
Still lots of little touch-ups required. Then a three day drying period is needed before applying the varnish. Each coat requires 24 hrs drying time. Looking forward to see how it will look then.

Hello,
I would like to present you a new Video LINK today.
It shows the main stages of making the masts for the French corvette.
I hope that you like it.
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 298 – Crojack Yard 3
 
In the first picture, the yard has been permanently hung on its truss, the sling chain fastened to the mast, and the two triple tackles for the lower topsail yard sheets rigged.  These are shown in the first picture. 

 
The tackles are fixed to the sheet chains with wire shackles, formed in place.  At the lower ends the blocks are hooked to deck eyebolts.  The tackle falls pass through sheaves in the sheet bitts and will be belayed on pins through those bitts.  The next picture shows the two yard braces with their pendants.
 

 
I am installing the mizzen braces as each yard is rigged because they run forward toward the center and should not interfere with later rigging access like those on the forward masts that run outboard.  Those are being deferred until later.  In the picture the two pendants are threaded on to a wire that will form the common shackle by which they are secured to an eyebolt on the main mast.  The next picture shows that shackle being formed.
 

 
To make the shackle, the wire is passed through the eyebolt from both sides.  A single overhand loop in the wire is then pulled tight through the eyebolt to simulate a shackle.  The wire will later be painted black.  The braces are spliced to eyes in the block straps as shown in the previous photo.  The lines then run through blocks shackled to eyes at the yard arm, back through the pendant blocks and are belayed on the main mast fife rail below.  The next picture shows the run of the two braces.
 

 
The next picture shows the brace connection at the yardarm.  The blocks are shackled to the forward band eyebolts on each side as shown below.
 

 
The next lines on this yard to be rigged were the clue garnets with their sheet blocks, tacks and lazy tacks attached, followed by the bunt and leech lines. These are virtually identical in configuration to their counterparts on other masts that were described in earlier posts.  They may be seen in the next photo.
 

 
The clue garnet blocks are positioned by temporary belaying of the tacks and lazy tacks.  This will be adjusted later when the sheets are rigged.   These, along with most other outer rigging is being deferred until later to maximize access.  The next picture shows the bunt and leech line blocks on the yards and hooked under the top. 
 

 
These six lines pass through fairleads on the lower shrouds, then belay on the main pin rails port and starboard.  The reef tackles were then rigged, one of which is shown in the next picture.
 

 
The standing end of the reef tackle is spliced to an eye on the yardarm block that is shackled to the bottom eye on the yard arm band.  It then passes through a block tied off to the jackstay as shown, then back through the outer block, inward to the double quarter block on this side, then down to the fife rail.  This picture also shows a close view of the shackled brace block and the shackled topping lift pendant on the top eye of the band.  The loosely hanging chain is the lower topsail sheet that will be rigged later.
 
Whew!  These descriptions are like a rewrite of the rigging list.
 
Next, the bowlines.
 
Ed

Ciao grazie a tutti e ben ritrovati, dopo le vacanze si riprende a fare modellismo.
 
Hello Thanks to all and well found, after the holidays he resumes to do modeling.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto

I will eventually sell my entire ship model reference collection...except for these Model Shipwright books (and of course our Swan series 😉 ). They represent the best examples of writing, construction and collection of esteemed authors (Hahn, McNarry, McCallup, White, Antscherl, etc) that our hobby has offered since the 1970s. I don't believe they will ever be digitized so I shall happily read them in my old age, with trifocals, reminiscing about the golden age of ship model making.
 
BTW, most of these are available on the Advanced Book Exchange for 5-10$ each. So Nav is offering them at an exceptional price.

Congratulations on the completion of an extraordinary Swan class model, Toni! You've done TFFM chapter and verse and my hats off to you.

I will eventually sell my entire ship model reference collection...except for these Model Shipwright books (and of course our Swan series 😉 ). They represent the best examples of writing, construction and collection of esteemed authors (Hahn, McNarry, McCallup, White, Antscherl, etc) that our hobby has offered since the 1970s. I don't believe they will ever be digitized so I shall happily read them in my old age, with trifocals, reminiscing about the golden age of ship model making.
 
BTW, most of these are available on the Advanced Book Exchange for 5-10$ each. So Nav is offering them at an exceptional price.

For those of you trying to decide whether to become a full member of the NRG but did not want the hassle of a print Journal, the Board has an exciting announcement.  The Journal is now available in a digital version in addition to the print version.  Check it out by going to the NRG Home Page and follow the link. 

Bravo Marsalv! Well deserved.

Bravo Marsalv! Well deserved.

I carefully attached the axles to the carriage base with double sided tape.  I then drilled through the base into the axels.  Two 3d nail "bolts" hold each axle to the carriage base, but I did cut them short.  The axles are glued into place.  Next is the stool bed and support, the transom and mounting the trucks. 

Ed, observing the log since long and building YA following your plans and books. Its a great pleasure to see the model coming up slowly. Currently I started with the main deck. All parts are prepared and assembling will start tomorrow. Your standard is very hard to meet.

Oh Brian you have outed me, I have known this all along and the personal name for this cutter in all my files is Kingfisher The Model Maker plans also call this boat Kingfisher There are a few other pictures of CK482 which I have in my files but I am unable to share them because I do not have the source.
 
There is another model on this forum with this name so I did not want to put up this name, also I only used the basic bulkhead lines from the MM plans and then developed my own, and drew upon the general fleet for other details. I have copies of the Stone plans that are available for download on the "smackdock" here is another one that would make a great model it is called "pioneer" and another one from the register "Maria"
I really like these boats. I am glad that there is a resurgence in restoring and preserving these vessels.
 
Michael 

Hello all –
 
Thanks to all, as always, for the many likes and compliments.  I trust every one of my American friends has had a great Labor Day holiday with friends and family, and equally great wishes for everyone across the globe who graces my work with your interest.
 
We are reaching the end of this project so this will be the penultimate report – a short one on the final fiddly details.
 
The first detail was the bow ensign that was left to the end rather than endanger it during construction.  It is built up with a small platform above the bow hawse hole.  This is then topped by a vertical ensign post of 0.02” brass rod supported by a ‘vee’ brace of 0.011 wire.  Two-bar PE railings surround all.

And here it is after painting off the model and installation.

The next detailed fittings are the two radio masts rising from the radio shack on the Belvidere deck.  They are not detailed on the plans, but in this photo you can see them behind the people at the rail.

They were built up from brass rod, tiny plastic pieces, and PE railings that were cut, shaped, and adapted to new uses.


In the photograph above you can see one type of light on the ship, the ones that rise on two bars, then bend at the top to illuminate the deck.  In fact, there are three types of lights in various locations around the ship. 

The first type was made by bending iron wire back on itself very tightly.  The doubled end was then bent down toward the deck.  One leg of the stand was cut to 10mm while the second was left long to fit a hole in the deck.  The light body was formed from a drop of epoxy whose surface tension is used to pull it into a ball as it hardens.  The light itself is represented by a drop of gloss silver enamel.  Here too the properties of surface tension were my friend.  A small drop of paint was picked up in the end of a toothpick.  When applied to the fitting it drew itself up and dried as a perfect circle. 

The second type are simple floodlights on the end of single posts.  They are mostly located above the lifeboats to illuminate them if there were a nighttime evacuation.  These were also formed with epoxy and silver paint using surface tension.

The final type of light is the most complex.  Five rectangular light bodies are mounted on a pillar with the lights angled to either side.  They do not show up well on the plans and the photographs are not the clearest, but were enough to give me a good idea of what was needed.


A post of 0.032” brass rod was painted with white glue and five tiny lengths of plastic rod 0.015” x 0.020” were delicately adhered to the brass.  As the glue set up I teased the lights into position.  When dry the joints were reinforced with a drop of thin cyano.  I use this double gluing technique a lot on small parts.  It takes advantage of the sticky nature of PVA glue to get things into position, and the CA then can strengthen the joints without disturbing the positions of the parts.  When all was dry they were spray painted with gloss white and the faces of the lights were picked out in black with the paint on a toothpick.

So here is a shot of the midships area with all three types of lights.  I am pleased with how they came out, and happier still with how much ‘texture’ they add to the look of the model.

That’s it for now.  The final segment will be posted soon with the model mounted, cased, and ready to travel.
 
Until then, be well.
 
Dan

It’s been an absolute pleasure to watch your restoration of this model Michael!

The carriage is held together with long bolts.  I settled on 3d finish nails as the simulated bolts.  The heads are about 3/32" in diameter - about right at this scale.  I cleaned them up and blackened the heads.  The brackets are inset from the edge of the base by 1/16".  I used double sided tape to tape some 1/16" planking to the brackets to maintain this spacing.  The brackets were double sided taped to the base  Then I drilled up into each bracket through the base.  The simulate bolts were cut short but still function like real bolts in holding the structure together as the glue dries.

After completing the hull fairing on one side of the hull, I worked on lining it off. Here I used 1/8" painters tape. The bow area is a bit tricky to do and I anticipate some minor adjustments later.

Prior to installing the garboard the keel is held straight with a length of 1/4" x 1" ply.



So far, it appears that these pre-spiled planks are made slightly oversize, leaving room for adjustments.
 
Mike

You mean you guys don't have the famous Rig Wright? It converts circumference to diameter and scale diameter in four different scales by rotating the dial.