wefalck

I suppose that's how 'builder's models' in the old days often were treated.

I suppose that's how 'builder's models' in the old days often were treated.

And now I tried them on the model hull.

Саша ,  Gary , Roel, Ricr  and that's all, thank you for your kind words and attention to my topic!   
 
  The photo shows a small number of nickel-plated parts.

I have been away travelling almost every second week for the past couple of months or so and barely could follow what was going on here. It seems that you are making steady progress in spite of the family health issues  👍🏻
 
For years I have been using magnifying (only x3) safety glasses, but together with my myopy it should give a total magnification of around x7. If I need more I use an optivisor, but found it not so comfortable for longer work, also because one has to come close to the object.

So, I had a small pocket of time to snug and snip the fore, port channel. I was able to finesse that first knot up a little higher. Really - and considering that they do tighten up just enough more under slight tension - I am very pleased with this experiment. Black touch-up paint to follow:


I am at least confident that these long links would not look better as wire. I may have over-calculated the angle of the two furthest aft preventer plates, but I was just following what the test line told me to do. Also, technically, the preventer plate links should span to the lower wale, but the first batch I made just looked over-long. I can live with this compromise. It is still a vast improvement over the stock kit. The important thing is that the chains no longer interfere with the port lids.

There are three backstay deadeyes that I have yet to prepare, but I will get to them in the next few rounds of deadeye prep.

This business of learning to make the chains continued to confound me as I discovered yet another mistake in my process.
 
For anyone who may also be new to this aspect of the hobby - BEWARE: jewelry wire (brass/copper) is coated with an anti-oxidation layer.  Brass black will not take without first stripping the coating (acetone bath, 99% purity - available at the pharmacy), and then roughing the wire surface with ScotchBrite.  I failed to do either of these things.  For your own sake, just buy untreated, soft copper wire.
 
My first dipping in JAX brass black almost didn’t take at all.  Whatever oxidation there was, was very spotty and wiped away easily.  After thoroughly rinsing the parts in acetone, my second JAX bath did much more to blacken the parts, but the depth of oxidation was highly irregular, there were still lots of completely bright brass patches, throughout, and the oxidation that was present still rubbed off too easily.
 
What to do, now?  I quickly decided that I absolutely was not going to re-make all of these fittings, as I had at least bent them into nicely uniform parts.  The only reasonable solution, IMO, was to spray-prime the lot black:
 

After inserting the deadeyes, and any necessary touch-up, the deadeye strops looked like this:

Quite satisfactory, I think.  On the inside, bottom edge of each deadeye, I placed a drop of CA, in order to fix the orientation of the deadeye.
 
I needed to make a run of split-rings, both for the gun out-haul tackles, and for between where the chains attach to the middle wales.
 
For these, I really like how tight a twist I get with galvanized steel wire.  Given that I was going to paint these, as well, it didn’t seem quite so important what the material was, but how it behaved.


I found it quite easy to close the eyes with my parallel pliers, a decent set of which are essential for this work (Thanks Druxey!), and I sealed the rings with a spot of common, brush-able CRAZY GLUE.
 
The eyes on deck:


In preparation for the deadeyes, I made ready the channels.  Because I found it necessary to shift a handful of deadeyes, so that the chains do not interfere with the gunport lids, I found it necessary to widen a number of the channel slots.  I then drilled for short sections of .030 styrene rod, so that I could favor one side of the slot:


Next I made capping strips for the outside edges of the channels, and simulated the nailing with shallow slices of triangular styrene rod.  I used the same “heat flashing” technique to dome over the heads:

With my masts in-place and a guide-string, I penciled-in the preventer plate locations.
 
The important thing, I think, was that the join of the preventer plates and the small loop-links be in a consistent plane, along the upper middle wale - just slightly higher than mid-wale.
 
Following a tip from fellow SR enthusiast Eric Wiberg, I purchased the following dome-headed rivets:
 
https://www.eugenetoyandhobby.com/products/plastic-rivets-round-head?_pos=3&_sid=320937e14&_ss=r
 
My idea was to use these with plastic cement to secure the preventer and loop links.
 
After drilling the top preventer plate/loop-link hole, I secure the position of the preventer plate with a common sewing pin in the top hole, and then swing a short mechanical pencil arc for the bottom hole location.
 
There are very slight differences between preventer plate links, so you do have to drill specific links for a given location.  It is very fiddly to fix the plates with these tiny styrene pins, but it can be managed from the bottom up with plenty of patience and a sewing pin to guide mating eyes into alignment.
 
Now, my hope for some time and results redemption depended upon whether or not I could make appropriate diameter thread look like the long connecting links.
 
Among my stash, was some really nice line that Dan Pariser very generously donated to my cause.  Although light in color, I found I could “paint” lengths of line with two passes of a black sharpie, which also gave the line some stiffness when dry.  I found that a single bow-knot gave me the ability to introduce tension to these links:
 
Obviously, it is important to ensure that the loop links and deadeye strops are in the correct orientation to each other.
 
The proof of concept on this first link gave me sufficient confidence that this idea will produce a nice result.  It is only important that one wait to stiffen the knot with CA until after you have pulled the knot up close behind the deadeye strop loop.  On this first one, I glued before doing so, and the knot is less perfectly concealed than the others will be:

This picture above was before pulling the knot up.  Eventually, when the lower deadeyes are lashed to their corresponding upper deadeyes, these chain links will pull fully taught with just the slightest tension.
 
Here is where things stand as of now:

I quickly learned it is wise to cover the gun ports, so that you are not continually losing links into the hull.  After pinning the links in place, I brushed over the link assembly with thin CA, to give it a little extra holding power.  I then left it to dry overnight.
 
Next, I will draw all remaining loops taught, and then the whole of it will receive a thinned acrylic black wash to homogenize the assembly and touch-up any bright spots.
 
There are, of course, many better ways to go about all of this.  For me, for now - I’ll take this all as a learning experience and move-on with it.
 
Thank you all for looking-in!
 
Best,
 
Marc
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Almost finished with the engines. Next come the paddle wheels. I will leave the Pitman (connecting rod) to last because I need to know the exact distance between the wheel and the cross tree. Then we do the piping.


Thanks for the likes and keep watching. It will be eventually finished. LOL😋

Thank you, Pat
 
 I couldn't rest without correcting those horrible photos in my previous post not that these are all that great. My camera stinks when it comes to taking nighttime photos. I'll make sure I don't take anymore at night.
 

 

 
 Thanks for putting up with me. 

Thank you to all for the likes and for following along.
 
 I have painted three of the Shapeways figures but they have not been sealed. The jury is out on these guys, I'll seal them and we'll see. I think there is a much better way of painting these than the way I did for these three. I painted every detail leaving the white for last. The white is the trickiest part of the process, if they were sealed before applying the white and the white didn't go on as wanted, I could remove a portion or all without messing with the paint underneath the sealer. The way I did it here I had to touchup the blue uniform and maybe the face, yada yada. Sealing and then adding the white has got to be better.   
 
My apologies for the following two photos. I was in a hurry and it's late, I promise I'll do better with the next photos.
 
 Taken with my lighting array, 

 
 Taken with flash. The shadows make that middle figure look like he's been going through the chow line twice. 

 
I need to get the figures off the paper and posed midair because taken in this manner ya can't see diddly.
 
 Again, thank you to all. 
 
 

I have been away travelling almost every second week for the past couple of months or so and barely could follow what was going on here. It seems that you are making steady progress in spite of the family health issues  👍🏻
 
For years I have been using magnifying (only x3) safety glasses, but together with my myopy it should give a total magnification of around x7. If I need more I use an optivisor, but found it not so comfortable for longer work, also because one has to come close to the object.

Thank you to all for the likes and for following along. 
 
  Thank you, Eberhard.  
 
 
 Below are the 6X glasses I ordered from Amazon...
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CFWSN6P?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
 
  Working distance is 8 inches away from your face, beyond that objects start to blur. I'm amazed they arrived okay. They were shipped in a thin plastic shipping envelope , no bubble wrap or cardboard around the glasses. I expected to take out a broken mess but not so, they were in perfect condition.
 
 The first time I wore them was for two, thirty minute stretches with a 30 minute break between the two and my eyes were okay. The second time I wore them for a couple of hours straight but it felt like my eyes struggled a bit to adjust back to normal afterward.                                                                                                                                    
 
 But I really really need them because of two recent purchases from Shapeways, see below.
 
https://www.shapeways.com/product/C9PG8J4AN/1-125-royal-navy-seamen-set-104?optionId=301259378&li=ostatus
 
https://www.shapeways.com/product/F3B3ZE7AY/1-125-royal-navy-seamen-set103?optionId=301259186&li=ostatus
 
These Royal Navy figures, in this size, (these figures measure 0.56 inches) are the closest to the latter 19th century US Navy figures I've be able to locate.    
 
 The biggest drawbacks are, the Shapeways figure's trousers are bloused at the boot tops, US Navy, a slight bellbottom trouser goes all the way down to the shoe tops. Royal Navy caps, oval shaped, US Navy, round caps. Less use of white on the US Navy uniform that that of the Royal Navy. The figures being so small, once painted, I think it will be hard to see the differences.  Of course I'll be painting them to resemble the US Navy uniform as close as possible.
 
 This is my first experience with 3D printed parts. Is it best to seal first with varnish/polyurethane or paint with acrylic paint then seal? After testing painting three figures, I think the quickest and easiest way to paint these is the uniform first then the head/face, hands, and boots. 
 

 
 
 And the journey continues......
 

I have been away travelling almost every second week for the past couple of months or so and barely could follow what was going on here. It seems that you are making steady progress in spite of the family health issues  👍🏻
 
For years I have been using magnifying (only x3) safety glasses, but together with my myopy it should give a total magnification of around x7. If I need more I use an optivisor, but found it not so comfortable for longer work, also because one has to come close to the object.

I have been away travelling almost every second week for the past couple of months or so and barely could follow what was going on here. It seems that you are making steady progress in spite of the family health issues  👍🏻
 
For years I have been using magnifying (only x3) safety glasses, but together with my myopy it should give a total magnification of around x7. If I need more I use an optivisor, but found it not so comfortable for longer work, also because one has to come close to the object.

I have been away travelling almost every second week for the past couple of months or so and barely could follow what was going on here. It seems that you are making steady progress in spite of the family health issues  👍🏻
 
For years I have been using magnifying (only x3) safety glasses, but together with my myopy it should give a total magnification of around x7. If I need more I use an optivisor, but found it not so comfortable for longer work, also because one has to come close to the object.

Thanks! Wefalck's suggestion to use string to weave together bunches was extremely helpful and has definitely led to a stronger thatching than my first attempt.
 
I've made the oarlocks/thole pins, using a bit of basswood and a thinned toothpick. From what I can tell, these weren't all that common on Canoas de Rancho, but some of the smaller ones had them. As my build is meant to model a vessel that would be used not just for cargo hauling but for fishing, which did require the use of oars, I decided to add them. They're not glued in place yet. From what I can tell from photos, they were often staggered, as I've depicted here.

 
I may redo them, though, as I think they came out a little oversized. I also might paint them instead of staining them.

Couldn’t help myself 

Next trophy, the 25cm mortar 

Mortar with measles ... 🤪

The Dutch company Artitec makes some resin-kits of small German railway ferries around the island of Rügen (I think) in HO- and N-scale:
 
https://www.artitecshop.com/en/railroad-ferry.html

https://www.artitecshop.com/en/wittow-ferry.html

https://www.artitecshop.com/en/ferry-fehmarn.html - This one I remember seeing in operation, when we spent our summer holidays with may grandparents up at the Baltic coast.

 
 
 
 

Mortar with measles ... 🤪

Mortar with measles ... 🤪

We recently spent a few days along the Upper Mississippi River (the stretch bordered by Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Iowa) and I thought a few photos and stories might be of interest to the general audience here. This part of the river is quite different from that below St. Louis; it's controlled by a series of locks and dams that create relatively stable pools for navigation, whereas below St. Louis the river is free-flowing. This also means that the whole valley is often filled with water, creating a maze of channels and islands that's actually more natural in appearance than the highly channelized lower river. Views like this also resemble what rivers like the Missouri used to look like before they were locked into permanent navigation channels and their complex forested floodplains transformed into dry farmland.

The bluffs along this stretch can rise over 400 feet above the river, giving dramatic views from various public lands, like this shot looking down on a toy-like towboat far below.

We were also fortunate to catch a large tow going through Lock & Dam 13 (just north of Fulton, Illinois), and set up a tripod so we could take time-lapse imagery of the whole process. I can't upload video here, but extracted a sequence of frames to show the process, which is pretty neat if you've never seen it done before.
 
This tow consisted of three columns of barges, two of which are four barges long and one just three, for a total of 11. The lock can only accommodate three barge-lengths without a towboat, so there's no way this whole massive tow can get through in one piece. So how is this impasse handled?
 
Here the lock is opening and you can see the tow approaching from downriver.

After some careful maneuvering, the towboat shoves its tow into the lock, with only a foot or so to spare on either side.

The tow is "broken" between the first and second rows of barges, and the towboat begins to back out of the lock with the first row, leaving rows 2-4 alone in the lock so the gates can close.

Once rows 2-4 have been raised to the upriver level, they're hooked to a little engine/winch that runs along an extended rail beyond the lock. This pulls the tow upriver out of the lock, beyond the upper gates, where it's tied off to await the rest.

Now the water is lowered again and the towboat enters with row 1.

A closeup of the towboat, a 6140 horsepower vessel built in 1976. It bears some resemblance to the Caroline N, subject of @mbp521's beautiful ongoing build, though they're not sister ships (second image from Towboat Gallery).


Once the towboat has been raised, it reunites its tow and proceeds upstream. I didn't record this part.
 
Anyone interested in watching how locking works should check out the live webcam streaming from Lock 19 at Keokuk, Iowa, which also monitors an active rail line running along the river next to the lock. This is mounted on a historic double-decker road/rail bridge, the upper portion of which has been converted into a pedestrian overlook of the lock and river and is a great place to hang out on a pleasant day and watch river/rail traffic. But you have to watch what you say, as the camera picks up voices from below (I have mixed feelings about that). This lock is longer than the one shown above and can accommodate a full 12-barge tow and towboat all at once.
 
And just to show that I'm an equal-opportunity transportation buff, here's a nice shot of a CPKC freight running downriver on a very active line.
 

Mortar with measles ... 🤪

Mortar with measles ... 🤪