captainbob

I did not want to use the printed deck and instead cut out the mahogany to fit with the planked deck.  Borge used the same technique but was smart enough to cut the deck plan into four parts.  I thought I could do it one piece, but you guessed it, I ended up with four pieces.  However, the glue lines didn't show and an insert was placed to repair a split section.
 

 


Before filling in the defects, I experimented with stains. The mahogany was a rather dull brown and I wanted  the beauty of red mahogany.
The red mahogany stain (upper of four) gave the color I wanted.
 


However that left the defects in the deck to be filled. 
 
I learned from refinishing our real boat that sanding lightly with emory paper in a slury of varnish (acrylic poly dries too fast) fill the gaps with stained sawdust for a uniform appearance.  Attempting this before staining means the repaired areas will not take up the stain.
 

 

One can gain additional filler by staining identical scrap wood and using the sawdust.
 

The result after 10 to 12 coats of acrylic polyurethane.
 

The mahogany deck inserts before and after staining and finishing.
 

Thank you for the info. But that means, the air stream most be very slow or, it would blow away the part you want to solder.
 
Bob

She's beautiful, let me know when she's ready to sail.  I want to book passage.
 
Bob

Thank you for the info. But that means, the air stream most be very slow or, it would blow away the part you want to solder.
 
Bob

I must have missed something. What is the advantage of the hot air over the iron?
 
Bob 

She's a beautiful boat.  Thank you for letting us watch your build.
 
Bob

Another Dragon.  When I lived aboard, there were two Dragons docked nearby.  There was nothing sweeter than to see them slide out of their slip and head out to have fun in the Pacific.  When I started model building, a 12" long Dragon was one of the first boats I built.  My brother came to visit and I gave it to him.  After he left my wife, "she who must be obeyed", said, "That was my favorite boat."  So I had no choice but to build another.  My brother's was built as a racing boat, my wife's was built as an early pleasure cursing boat with a cabin.  It will be fun watching another Dragon going together.
 
Bob

She's beautiful, let me know when she's ready to sail.  I want to book passage.
 
Bob

Fantastic build.  What more can be said?
 
Bob

She's beautiful, let me know when she's ready to sail.  I want to book passage.
 
Bob

She's beautiful, let me know when she's ready to sail.  I want to book passage.
 
Bob

I must have missed something. What is the advantage of the hot air over the iron?
 
Bob 

Arrrrrrrgh!
 
Today was one of those "Damn and Blast" days.
 
I was investigating the web to make sure that I got the positioning of the 4 secondary winches (omitted from the plans) in the correct position. One side effect of the investigation is that I found 4 cleats (2 deck mounted and 2 bulwark mounted) that were also omitted from the plans. I didn't have enough spare components so it was back to a production run. Also I had been mithering about the bulwark cleats being a tad too large and I hadn't really done a detailed job on the mounting plate. The need to set up the production line once more prompted me to rip off the existing bulwark cleats and replace them. 
 
The bulwark cleats have a single central mounting point with the foot being attached to the bulwark frames. The feet are quite small.
 
The results of a full days production - the .750" pin is included for scale:-

I glued the feet to the frames before passing the cleat mounting pin through the hole.
 
I think I now have the right number cleats and winches on the rear deck - only time will tell!!
 

 
 

Greg,
 
My lathe also has backlash - I have never worked on one that doesn't. All I do is make sure that the settings are always made when winding the dials in one direction - clockwise is normal. If I need to move the slide or saddle in the opposite direction I just wind the dial further than I need to go and then wind it back to the setting in the clockwise direction. This was the way I was taught to do it when I was an apprentice 50 years ago and it works well. The fitting of digital scales eliminates the problem and can be done quite cheaply these days.
 
Bill,
 
The best way to avoid the problem of cut off pieces flying across the workshop is as follows.
 
1. Advance the slitting saw into the component to make the cut.
2. As you come to the end of the cut slow down the rate of feed of the saw into the workpiece (best done using manual feed).
3. Just before the part comes away from the parent metal it will begin to rise away. This is because the web retaining it has insufficient strength to resist the pushing force of the saw.
4. At this point stop the saw, and use your fingers to pull the part free. If you are making lots of parts remember always to stop the saw - you would be surprised how tempting it can be to chance it.
 
The sketch may help:-
 
 
 
 
 

Nils thanks and thanks to everyone who has quietly visited, it is encouraging to know that the work is being followed.
 
The next tackle was the next most damaged davit it was quite well bent in a couple of spots.
 

 

The winder was badly bent and the frame twisted with the solder joint fractured, this was not going to be able to be fixed as a single element so I decided to take it apart. the first task was to drill out the riveted end of the arm where it joins the frame.
 

 
Using one of the small toolmakers clamps set up in the small vice on the drill I was able to drill enough of the riveted head away to remove it still leaving enough to reassemble it later.
 

 
The frame assembly now needed to be taken apart in order to extract the bend shaft.
 

 
Using the air soldering gun and capturing the frame in the small steel clamp in the third hand the one end fell away easily
 

 
slipping the long part of the shaft into a pin vise enable me to bend the handle end back in line with some fine needle nose pliers.
 

 

 
the frame part that was still bent now needed to be straightened so that it could be mated back to the rest of the frame, this was done again with a couple of pairs of needle nosed pliers using them as miniature vises.
 

 
next the unit needed to be re soldered together I used Duzall flux and a flake of soft solder
 

 
the hot air gun was used to re-solder the joint.
 

 
I have cleaned and repainted it and put it back together and now it is looking new and old again.
 

 
Michael
 

Hi everyone
 
I hope you're all enjoying your weekends!
 
Woohoo!!!  I decided to take a break from doing the cabin layouts to work on the fitting out of the Main Saloon.  Although it's still early days, Shadow now has the main settees (albeit, minus their cushions, which will be added later), four small rectangular coffee tables on the blue floor mat, and the main dining room table, complete with 14 dining chairs.  
 
Lots of fun to go, folks!
 
I hope you enjoy the following photos.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

That drill press is beautiful, plus it works.  Well done.
 
Bob

She's beautiful, let me know when she's ready to sail.  I want to book passage.
 
Bob

She's a beautiful boat.  Thank you for letting us watch your build.
 
Bob

Well thank you all for your encouraging comments and kind remarks.
 
Now that i am back working on the stuff that keep me up at night trying to figure out the next move, I have assembled the new davit and think it will be OK when hidden among the rest.
 

 
The next up in the line of the other davits that have been straightened out. The new davit is the one closest.
 

 
Michael
 
 

She's a beautiful boat.  Thank you for letting us watch your build.
 
Bob

Thanks everyone for the compliments.
 
Keith the large mill drill is out in the shop and the motor on it is 3/4 horse, as i mentioned the poor mans DRO is accomplished with three butchered dial vernier calipers.
The sensitivity is quite a way from the smaller drill inasmuch as the quill on the big mill drill is 3 inches in diameter and the handles are about 12 inches for a radius of 24. which means that when using it to drill tiny holes I need to be able to view the work through a magnifying visor while stretching my arm up to the handle to make very fine pecks at the surface.  I am comfortable doing a lot of work with the big mill drill.
 
The small drill is very quiet and I can get close without feeling like I am doing Yoga stretches to operate it when drilling. I guess the best analogy is the difference between cutting some brass with the jewelers saw versus the 20 in bandsaw, not that I don't use both for the appropriate tasks. I hope that I have clarified why I made this tool.
 
Today another tweak to smooth out the operation I flipped the quill dial over so that it read the proper direction when going down It look a bit tidier as well.
 

 

 
 
 Also made a small keeper plate for the dial end of the x direction for the table so that the end of the dial does not get caught in the T slots

 

 
 
and made another collet out of brass for the 1/8th shanks bits it now runs very true. 
 
Michael

Richard, Michael, Bedford, Nils, John, Rob, Per.
 
Thank you all for your very nice comments. Like most of us I build models for my own entertainment and pleasure, it is however very much appreciated when fellow shipwrights offer support and encouragement. Thanks to all of you all for taking the time and effort to comment.
 
Now to deal with the questions:-
 
Michael
 
A picture may help (sorry I mixed 1st and 3rd angle projection).
 

The top of the page (numbered 1,2 and 3) is what I set out to make. I did think about making a jig and then soldering the 3 parts together but I wasn't convinced it would be neat enough with the solder. Given the size and number of the parts I didn't fancy the clean up task.
 
I realised that I could make it look right while achieving a robust construction by adopting the approach depicted in sketch 4.
 
The sequence was as follows:-
 
1 Form the wooden cleat cross member (sketch 4z) and drill 2 cross holes in it .250" apart - these holes to take the pins (sketch 4x). I drilled the holes accurately on the mill using the DRO.
2 Make the collars (sketch 4y). These collars each have 1 cross hole pre drilled.
3 Slip two collars over each cross members and align the collar holes with the cross holes in the cleat.
4 Insert 2 pins (sketch 4y) into the holes in the cleat cross member and glue with CA. The contact area for the glue is large as the bond is between the pin and the wooden cross member. 
5 Mount the feet (sketch 4w) on the deck and secure with 'spectacle screws" and CA glue. (I used a jig to accurately drill the 4 holes per cleat).
6 Drill through the deck at the location of the middle hole in each foot.
7 Apply glue to the pins of the cleat sub-assembly (step 4 above)
8 Insert the sub assembly into the holes in the feet / deck. The contact area for the glue is large as the bond is between the pin and the wooden deck. I used a spacer to make sure the distance from deck to cross member was consistent.
 
It worked but was a bit complex. I'm sure others would find a simpler method.
 
Per.
 
I make them look the same by repeating the sequence and settings on the late for each item. For example the sequence went something like this.
 
Set .375" bar in lathe.
Face end.
Centre drill.
Drill .080" hole in end .100 deep (one turn of tailstock handle)
Replace drill with .040" drill and push until it bottoms in hole. Drill .100 deep.
Push tailstock away.
Bring lathe tool into contact with the outside of the bar and set the cross slide dial to zero.
Move lathe saddle away from work.
Wind dial on the .025". (to reduce the diameter from .375 to .325)
Move lathe tool until it touches the face of the bar and set saddle dial to zero.
Take cut, moving the saddle until the cut diameter is .500" long.
Etc, etc.
 
The trick is to record the sequence and the dial settings for each step, much the same as you would do if you were programming a CNC lathe. It would be much easier if I had a CNC lathe but I am a miser.
 
Richard.
 
I agree with Michael. An unused lathe is like an unloved wife. They cease up and become useless.
 
 

The frames were out by 1/16", or 2" in real life. I don't doubt that this may not have been true on the real boat, and probably fixed in much the same way.
 
Years ago while living in MD. I read an article on a local large wooden boat builder, one of the last in the area. He said that all the boats he built, and all of the ones he knew about were asymetriacal by a fair amount, that modern ship builders would be surprised by. The nature of wood construction.

We, the St. Louis Gateway Model Shipcrafters are currently scratch building a 1:24 scale plank-on-frame model of the USS Cairo's City Class, sister ship USS St. Louis for the Missouri Civil War Museum (MCWM). We started this project in September 2014 using the Vicksburg 1981, 28 sheet set of plans by Ashley and their Historic Structural Report(HSR) which seemed to be the standard source for the  modeling community at that time and appeared to cover everything we needed to build an authentic model worthy of display at the MCWM. The attached photo represents our progress as of March 2017. The starboard side of this 7.5-foot long model will represent the ironclad's finished exterior while the port side will have substantial openings to reveal substructure and internal equipment.
Unfortunately, we immediately began to detect obvious errors in these plans such as a lack of deck camber and deck house roof camber which would be particularly noticeable at our large scale. Correspondence with NPS Vicksburg led us to NPS Denver, who actually managed the USS Cairo reconstruction project, confirmed these errors and our fears that others probably existed partly because of the poor condition of the USS Cairo's remains in 1981. We therefore began our own concurrent intensive research activity to verify everything we could before we fabricated it. This included referring to an earlier 1968 NPS Philadelphia survey drawing of the USS Cairo hull and a later 2005 Vicksburg subcontractor reconstruction of the gun carriages which were very useful. We also found drafting errors and inconsistencies in Ashley's 1981 drawings, some of which have been superseded by Vicksburg 2015 PDF drawings. Some other sets of plans, such as those by Meagher and Geoghegan(1970), appear to contain reconstructions which make sense.  Unfortunately other plans such as Bob Hill's simply relied solely on the accuracy of Ashley's drawings or introduced figments of their own imagination such as C. A. Raven's NRG Journal Article(Summer 2012) which is counterproductive. All existing plans appear to be flawed and the many USS Cairo models currently on public display reflect these errors.
Obviously some of the issues we are discovering would not necessarily apply to smaller scale or less detailed models. We are compiling a list of our findings and intend to submit it to the NRG Journal for use as a cautionary "heads up" to future City Class model makers.