dvm27

Congratulations on a beautiful model Chris. While there are many lovely features, I don't believe I've seen a better job coppering the hull. The copper belts, finish and scale  look just right.

I realize it is boring and goes kinda slowly but I hope to have - again- angles right and "by the book". Columns are- obviously- not vertical and of course having them angled in one direction would be just too simple... To make things more interesting I gotta keep in mind 3d printing requirements (otherwise all the work would've been "just for show" and of no use to scratchbuilder)
 

 

Hi all -
 
Thanks, as always, for the compliments.  It is coming along slowly but well, I think.  The past several weeks have included the July 4th long holiday and the move of my son and his family from Brooklyn to Michigan, which took me away for some time from the construction yard. 
 
Mostly I worked on the railing fixtures at the bow and stern.  These are not only complicated three dimensional metal pieces, but require detail soldering and electroplating.  Many almost completed, or even fully completed iterations were discarded before acceptable ones were fashioned.  Without dwelling too much on past mistakes, here is how it went -
 
The fixture at the bow consists of a top bar that bends around the bow and then bends down to becomes the aft two of the four angled legs that support it.  The pair of legs on each side is connected by a low bar as well.  Here is what it looks like on the boat.
 

 
The plans provided gave only a profile view, but I found a detailed deck fitting drawing which shows the plan view. 
 


 
Similarly, the stern fitting has a top bar that bends at almost a right angle around the corner of the transom and becomes a short foreleg and a much longer transom leg, with a vertical piece and horizontal pieces connecting everything together.  Here it is on a boat
 

 
And here from the plans and drawing
 


 
To match the dimensions, I used brass tubing of 1mm o.d. and internal diameter of 0.020".  I could have used solid bar stock, but using tubing provided a lot of advantages during construction.  Here is the setup for the bow fixture, surrounded by my soldering tools and supplies.
 

 
I do most of my soldering with this inexpensive "Cold Heat" device that I heard about through an infomercial on TV several years ago.  This is the first time that I am using it for a commissioned model.  It is a battery powered resistance soldering unit made for the miniatures or jewelry market.  It works by passing an electric current between two carbide electrodes set in a "cloven hoof" configuration with a small gap between the electrodes.  When both tips contact metal the current flows between them, heating the metal by induction, or resistance in the metal.
 
For the solder I use Tix brand high-silver content solder along with Tix brand flux.  Both can be bought at Micro-Mark and other suppliers.  The solder comes in sticks, which is easily cut in pieces about 1/16" long.  Although it is easy to cut, once melted and cooled it is quite hard and strong.  Also, since it has a lot of silver it electroplates much like the brass tubing.
 

 
The dimensions of the fixture was figured out from the plans, opened up as if lying flat, and drawn onto a piece of scrap basswood.  Pieces of tubing were cut to length and bent to shape.  At the appropriate spots I drilled angled  holes through the top bar and the forward legs.  0.020" brass rod was fed through the holes, the tubing pieces strung in place, and the entire assembly was secured in place with thumb tacks.
 

 
In this closeup you can see that at the joint on the left there is a piece of the solder resting on the joint.  Actually, the joint was painted with flux, which gets tacky and holds the solder in place till it is heated.
 

 
Now the Cool Heat tool is turned on and the tips straddle the bar next to the joint.  In a few moments the flux sizzles, then the solder softens and sags.  Do not remove the heat, but wait until the solder melts completely and forms a shiny dome over the joint.  Remove the heat and the solder will flow into the joint, filling and securing it.  There is a soldered joint at the right edge of the photo.
 

 
Once all of the joints have been soldered the extra connecting pieces of the rod were clipped off and the joints were filed to remove any excess solder.  Taking a deep breath I folded the piece around a suitably sized dowel to form the rounded 'pulpit' that goes around the bow.  Fortunately, all of the joints held.  Now the legs were trimmed to final size so the fixture sat level and in the right position.  With a wire wheel every bit of the fixture was polished in preparation for chrome electroplating.  As with painting or other finishing, the surface preparation is key.
 

 
The electroplating kit was set up as I described before when making the handrails, and the piece was dipped for only 15 seconds, which gave it a very nice silvery finish after rinsing and polishing with a cloth wheel.
 

 
And here it is installed on the model.  Using tubing also allowed me to insert brass rod into the lower ends of the supporting legs which were bent to drop into holes drilled into the deck.  This creates a 4-point mechanical attachment for the piece, which should be enough, even at the vulnerable spot at the extreme bow. 
 

 
The stern fixtures were build up in much the same way.  After the design was calculated and drawn, brass tubing was bent to the shape of the top bar and legs.  Holes were drilled for the 0.020" rod which was used as an armature to hold the tubing pieces in place.
 

 
And here are all of the joints soldered.  Most are good, but you can see that the joints at the central crossing are a little starved for solder.  Flux and another piece of solder were used and heated, and the joint was filled quite easily.  The loops for the wire railings are made of the same brass rod as the armature and soldered in place.
 

 
Now the fixture was bent to its final angle.  This is where a number of fully soldered fittings died.  The bend of the lower bar is just too close to the central joint, which fails time and again.  I finally resorted to leaving off that piece of tubing and bending the top bar alone.  Since it is a continuous piece of metal there was no failure.  Now the lower bar piece had to be pre-bent, trimmed to size, and set in place with the internal rods.   These last joints were soldered to complete the construction.  Here are the mirror image fittings, the one on the right has the attachment pins installed. 
 

 
As with the bow fixture, these were cleaned up with a file and then polished with a wheel before electroplating.  And here they are set in place.  I just have to add some feet to the legs, which will be small pieces of chrome foil and they will be complete.
 


 
Next I will make up the individual railing posts before turning to the mast and rigging.  But I have to do some work on another project the rest of the month, so I will post again in August, when I should be almost done.
 
Until then, be well.
 
Dan
 
 
 

More progress over the weekend.   I applied some colored wood putty to the seams in the planks where light showed through.  The cap rails were marked-out, cut and trimmed and installed.  The sophistocated clamping system was used to keep the rails even and in contact with the tops of the frames.  Both the sides and transom friezes were sprayed with a dull-coat lacquer before cutting.  To install the frieze, I masked off the sides of the cap rails and everything below the first plank, applied some spray-on contact cement (also on the fireze itself) and stuck it on.  Pretty easy since my top strake shape was taken from a frieze.  The lower rub-rail was tough.  I could not get my box wood cut to the 1/32 dimension so I used the kit-provided bass strips.  It gets painted and is softer, so nothing lost here.  Mircowaving and bending got them into shape.  The transom frieze was pretty straight forward.  Plenty of size choices provided.  Floor boards cut and installed.  The same spacers were used between each board, yet the spaces seem to be different in the picture.  Camera angle?  Finally, the platforms were made (cardboard pattern cut first but some tweeking was still necessary.  I'm shaping the risers (Cleats?) but the red paint needs to be applied to the cap and inner planks before the risers are installed.  Waiting on delivery of more paint since my supply of red hardened in the jar.
Maury

Here are the pics

You can't beat drill bit city for selection and price. They all dome on a 1/8" shank which works particularly well on rotary tools.
 
https://www.drillbitcity.com/Default.asp

Juan,
 
    The reason for 2-3-2 or 7-10-7 is geometry, specifically triangles.
 

 
   A squared + B squared = C squared.  In the above diagram you want to shave off the corners (A and so that the remaining side © is equal to D.   (2x2)+(2x2)= 4+4=8
                                                                   D=3 so 3x3=9
                                                                   Close
 
                                                                   (7x7) + (7x7) = 49 + 49 = 98
                                                                   10 x 10 = 100
                                                                   closer
 
Then there are hexes.  :-|

lower deck

On building the items for the gun deck I have uploaded photo's showing how I made my capstan's. Not quite as advance as Ed's, but am sure that several years in to Montagu life she just may of had those types. In ones travel of building and researching a ship of the line, one runs in to some interesting items such as the fore jeer capstain, and it being lower down in to the capstain room on the orlop deck.  Just to give some of you a heads up on this item, while researching this capstan, most of the contracts I have on them state that this capstain was lowered down to the orlop deck to make room for the long boat.  Steel shows this in his plates and talk's about it in his book Steel's Naval Architecture of 1805. After spending time trying to figure out how it worked I built what I thought was a good repersentive of it.  Did they really lower this down, I do believe so, why else would they have built it this way.

Hello dear friends,
Today I will show you the comparison of my model caronade with the photo of an original French Carronade of 1840.
I think that there are many similarities.

After the beams were installed and fitted in place, they were left loose so I could pull them out for cutting the notches for the carlings on the out side of the ship. I also added the hanging and lodging knees to the ends of the beams and seems that it took awhile to get the pieces to a point were they could be glued in place. At the same time the bitt's were added along with the fore mast partner which was sandwich in between the knees of the bitt's. Most probably know that the cross member of the bitts were not nailed in place but held in place by eyebots and hooks which I added  them. Since all the pull was on the bitts them self seems like a good thing to do and did save time if the cross members needed to be changed out.

Thanks, Mark.
 
The next items to make were the hatch coamings.  I chose to model them in cherry for the contrast.  The gratings will be in boxwood.  They are composed of four pieces (two fore and aft coamings and two athwart head ledges).  The coamings have a rabbet to accept the grating.  There was no rabbet on the coaming for the ladderway.  On the real ship they would interlock with a tailed half-lap joint; I made a simpler half-lap joint.  The head ledges curve to match the round-up of the deck.  Rather than making the entire assembly off the ship and then sanding in the curvature, I glued the head ledges directly onto the beams.  There is not that much round-up so pre-bending the wood was not necessary.  Once they were dry I installed the coamings and cleaned up the joints. 
 

 

 
At the corners, the edges are rounded off to the deck level only, leaving a 90 degree corner from the beam to the top of the decking. 
 

 
Each head ledge is secured with three bolts.  I did not have any brass wire with me so I dyed a bamboo treenail black to simulate the bolt.  Treenails secure the coamings.  I spaced them approximately every foot.  The treenails are also made of cherry.
 

The armament of Royal Caroline
 


The armament consisted of various guns.
4 Pdr. Cannons on gun carriages, four per side, plus 4 x ½ Pdr. Swivel guns on the aft deck and on  the Mast tops ¼ Pdr. Swivels

On the plan of Bellabarba are also 2 x ½ Pdr Swivels on the foredeck  to see.
But the arrangement of these guns can not be true!
The guns are mounted too low (knee high),  and the swivel guns can not be fixed there, since a proper attachment of the column is not visible.

Judging from the drawing, the servants are running the rotary launchers are mounted, merely placed on the deck, and that goes against all the rules of shipbuilding.
Servants are always min. performed two floors and bolted to the bar below or attached.
You have to just let me think what forces caused by fire the cannon.
After the first shot the swivel gun would be along with the shooter and servant across the side of the ship to find if not downright overboard.
And then there is the height of the swivel gun to consider;
In the position as shown, the shooter would sit on the deck!
All in all, the author is obviously a major mistake happened.
In the picture of Cleeverly none of it is visible.
The author will forgive me the criticism, but in such a project as the Caroline, I would avoid technical errors.
Also on the original plan of NMM is nothing to see like the plan from Bellabarba.
Conclusion: I have not mounted on the back deck, the swivel guns.
 
 
 
But now I reached an important message!!

Our special agent "P" 08/15-006 (with license to fly),  
 
Image was modified newsworthy to the mission not to endanger.
 


has managed to penetrate accomplished the feat in the secret armory of Caroline, and could make sensational pictures of the weapons production.
 

Advance an image which has reached us by express mail:
 
 
 

 


At this point, many thanks to the transport department of our news service


As soon as Agent "P" is back, and after reviewing the material, a detailed report will follow.

Good morning all,
 
Hello Popeye and Michael, Many thanks for looking in and for your kind compliments.
 
Today, I am going to post the last pictures related to the construction of the search light installation, as it is now awaiting the right moment for the finishing stages.
 
Here goes:
 
 
An overall view showing the detail and the bolt heads.

 
A front view.

 
A view from the side.

 
A view from the other side.

 
A close up view.

 
An elevational view,  displaying all the other parts, to be fixed in place during the finishing process.

 
Now some pictures related to the last range finder making part of the tower. This is a 2 meter long range finder, and is situated just below the Admiral's bridge.
 
The platform with it's sheet steel parapet wall.

 
A view from the under side showing all support struts.

 
The armoured base housing, on which the range finder sits.

 
Starting off with the housing.

 
Applying filler to create the taper edge..

 
The range finder housing well under way.

 
The assembly ready for the next stage - detailing.

 
A side view.

 
A close up view.

 
 
shall be posting more pictures next week.
 
 

The scuttles in the fore deck are all fitted with covers.  There are sills that run fore and aft on the carlings that form the scuttle framing.  They can be seen in the first picture.  The cover rests on top of them.  These covers could either be fit to lift out (which is what I modeled) or hinged.  I deliberately made the covers slightly undersized so that they would stand out from the deck planking.The ring bolts are used to pull the covers and are 3" internal diameter.  They are made from blackened 24 g brass wire.They measure out correctly but look oversized to my eye.  All of the eyes are oriented fore and aft.  
 

 

Well done, Ben! And don't feel bad - properly done treenails should be almost invisible.

Thanks Robbyn, but I'm not really "thinking" of the actual details, just putting into practice what is in the TFFM books .
 
Transom Iron Knees
 
The corners of the transom are strengthened with Iron Knees. I made these in similar fashion to the other ones described earlier in my build log. They are "cast" (bent) to go under the half-beam. A Filler Piece has been fitted to take the place of a Lodging Knee :
 

 
Here are the aforementioned "half-beams" :
 

 

 
  Danny

Hi Doris. Your R.C. is like a piece of jewelry with more and more diamonds added daily. Beautiful!
 
Greg

Those quarter galleries are difficult to get right with their sweeping curves and angles. Everything from the wooden shingles to window frames fits perfectly together. Just beautiful, Alex!
 
Greg

Thanks every one, hopfully many more in the future. At the moment life has sort of got in the way but hoping for some time to work on her in the near future. Thanks Ed, as soon as I get back to the cannon's I keep those sizes in mind. Daniel the carpenter´s walk did go around the orlop deck but not so much like the one you show above. There was a lot of places that was not walled in and one had a good view, of the outside wall. On 74's of Montagu time there wasn't a wall all the way around the orlop deck. Here is some photo's that show how Montagu looked. In the first picture it shows the stanchion's that separated the cable tier from the carpenter's walk, followed by the fwd store rooms and finally the aft store rooms with the carpenter's walk on the outside. Have also included the plan of her orlop deck so you can compare the two. Sort of wish I had added more of the detail on this deck,like metal work and maybe even some cables, in the tier. Of course it would have been even longer to finish this deck then the couple of years that it took. Gary

.....
 
           rekon54

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 171– Head Continued - Figurehead
Posted 1/10/13
 
Based on the comments I guess I glossed over the actual carving of the figurehead so I will offer this still abbreviated description of the process. I hope to document the whole process in much more depth in volume II. Again, I don’t represent this process as ideal, but merely the one I used. I believe I covered the maquette in the previous part.
 
The first picture shows the “composite” side pattern pasted to a block of European Boxwood (buxus sempervirens). This is an outstanding carving wood – hard, dense grain, polishes well.
 
 

 
The three patterns used can be seen to the right in the photo. They were created by tracing over the 3D rendered images seen at the left, then overlaid on the drawing of the bow for final sizing, orientation, addition of hair and drapery and any needed adjustments. This was done in the CAD program. These patterns were used for the maquette.
 
The “composite” pattern was made by superimposing the two side patterns to outline the maximum extent of the figure for cutting the overall shape. This was done on the scroll saw. The next picture shows the block having been cut out in both planes.
 
 

 
After cutting out the side shape, patterns were pasted on each side and a rough front view sketched in pencil on to the forward side of the block. The side shapes were then roughed out on the scroll saw. These side cutoffs were useful in positioning various features on the carving later. Measurements were also taken from the maquette to locate features.
 
In the next picture the head and upper torso have been given a general shape with the carving clamped in the vise.
 
 

 
The head was done first with enough facial detail to assure that the final face could be finished successfully – before moving on to the torso. This preliminary work was largely done with rotary tools and burr cutters or powdered diamond abrasive bits. Getting the face shaped is a critical step and can be difficult. Females – especially attractive young females – are challenging. Overly prominent features, sagging jowls and deep-set eyes all make the figure seems older – and sometimes even masculine. Most of this work was done with hand tools once the basic head was shaped and the eye sockets defined with a small spherical diamond grit rotary tool.
 
The next pictures show the rotary tools used.
 

 
I have two of these Wecheer tools because I use them so often for drilling and sometimes buffing. They can be held like a pencil. Various bits are shown to the left. The four bits to the left side are diamond abrasive shapes. The tiny burrs in the yellow case are Fox burs. These are very tiny. The rotary tool to the right is fitted with a screw mandrel. A small circle of Scotchbrite pad has been screwed onto the end and is used for buffing. Small sanding boards and flexible sanding strips up to 2000 grit were also used for polishing.
 
The next picture shows the rough carving with the maquette.
 
 

 
Some adjustments were made to the final head shape and pose. The upper torso is pretty well shaped in this picture.
 
The next picture shows some of the hand tools used for carving and final detailing.
 

 
A surprising amount of rough paring could be done with a simple modeling knife but straight chisels were used quite a bit for that as well. The tools to the left are small gouges made from drill rod. The very tiny gouge at the far left was made from a bit of syringe tubing. The small abrasive files were very useful for shaping and veining. They can be used in any direction and are good for smoothing out gouge cuts. The Two Cherries tool is a very mall curved gouge. I also used a similar v-gouge quite a bit.
 
In the next picture the roughed out figure has been fitted to the bow.
 

 
The mounting slot was cut with a saw and square files. A major portion of carving block behind the figure remains. This allows it to be clamped in the vise. Once the figure was fit into place this could be removed as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The figure is almost complete in this picture. There is still some final work to do on the hands, feet, face, etc. Closeup photos like this one – or closer - are very helpful in finding areas for further work. There will be a short extension of the lower cheek with a scroll installed on each side just behind the figure’s foot.
 
The last picture shows the figure at this stage from the other side.
 

 
Because the figure represents a swimming nymph, there is not a lot of drapery; so the area behind the torso had to be filled in. I did this by extending slightly the upper part of the lacing timber. This is visible in both these last pictures. Doing this in pear helped define the slender shape of the figure.
 
 
Ed

Treenails on a ship this size were between 3/4" and 1 1/4" in diameter so something around .020" would be fine. That would be roughly a no.76 drill bit or the third smallest hole on the Byrnes draw plate. You can dip the treenail in dilute white glue and insert it immediately as it tends to swells up or insert, cut then paint over the treenails with dilute white glue (my preference) Treenails should be barely visible. 
 
I'd also advise testing on a scrap piece with the finish you'll be using to see the effect of the finish on the treenail grain.
 
Greg

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 164– Rails and Channels
Posted 11/24/12
 
With the shear strakes installed, the next step was to install the shear rail and the waist rail below it. 
 
 

 
The top of the shear rail follows the line of the top edge of the lower shear strake and the top of the waist rail is 2 feet below it.  The shape of the rails was scraped on the edge of a 6” thick plank using a scraper filed out on a piece of plate.  There are two different shapes for these.  After scraping the rails were ripped off to the 3” thickness.  All of the planking and the trim in this picture is European Boxwood.  The shear rail was cut out to seat the channels – the mizzen channel in this picture.  These are about an inch thinner than the shear rail.  The next picture shows this work progressing forward.
 
 

 
Again, the wet spots are from washing off the glue.  The next picture shows the first channel sections pinned in place.
 
 

 
I decided to make these of Castello – like the decks.  They are tapered to the outer edge.  Bolt heads are just visible.  They are held in place at this stage by short copper stub “bolts”.  I intend to install the iron T-plates and other detail before installing these permanently.  The next picture shows another view of this.
 

 
In the next picture the main channel is fit into place. 
 

 
I made all the channels 2’10” in breadth.  The contract calls for these to be broad enough to allow the shrouds to clear the roughtree rail with 10” clear.  This took a bit of layout work.  The slots for the deadeye bindings will be cut before installation of the ironwork.
 
In the next picture the rails have been extended forward into the waist area.
 

 
The waist rail in this area will have to be cut out where it crosses over the sweep ports.  The end of the shear rail at the left of this picture will butt right up against the forward fender.  The planksheer will fit directly on top of the upper shear stake in this picture.  That line also defines the tops of the frames.  The planksheer was flush with the gangway planking in this area.
 
The next picture shows the fore channel and the shear rail up to the cathead.
 

 
The fore channel has more curve than the other two – as does the rail.  The forward end of the rail will be trimmed back when the cathead knee is installed and the rail forward of that will be installed then as well.
 
In the next picture the side steps have been installed.
 
 

 
The break in the shear rail just forward of the steps is left for the fenders.  The bottom two steps are pear and will be stained to match the wale.  The molded shape of the steps was formed with a third cutter and the steps filed to that shape at the ends.
 
The next picture shows all the channels installed along the side.
 

 
The bunker has been put back over the wheel.  I had left it off after finishing the quarterdeck to prove to the Thanksgiving guests that it actually turns the rudder.  Now it is quite safe.
 
 
Ed

The rest of the lower deck planking has been installed.  I have removed the bit pins to prevent them from getting damaged.  According to TFFM, joggled planks were not commonly used in this time period.  David's suggested layout shows them, however, so I used them in four strakes at the bow.  I guess I just like the way they look.  The last three strakes aft and the last two strakes fore are dropped to prevent the end of the plank from being too narrow.
 

 

 

 

 

 
I have not decided what I am going to do for fastenings.  Deck nails were used to fasten the planks to the beams.  They were countersunk so wood plugs could be inserted above them.  I have tried unsuccessfully to show these plugs with a hypodermic needle.  To remain in scale, a 25 gauge needle is required.  I found that this bent after only a few uses.  Seven-eighths inch treenails and doualls were used at the ledges and butts respectively.  At this point I am leaning towards installing the treenails and doualls and skipping the plugs, as they would barely be seen anyway.