wefalck

Town development is an interesting subject and certainly was different between the USA and Europe, given the different time-scales. Most towns and even villages in Europe go back hundreds of years or even back to Roman times, with some of the original settlement patterns from the latter period still traceable on modern maps.
 
There different factors determining plot sizes and shapes. One factor can be how taxation was fixed, in some countries it was, for instance, the width of the plot along the street, resulting in narrow deep plots (as seen e.g. in Spain). Fire regulations could be another factor - thatched and/or wooden houses where built further apart from each other. Post the plague epidemics and the 30-Years-War in the 17th century many villages had to be refounded and until then unsettled land began to be cultivated. There was an incentive, for security reasons, to keep the built-up area tight (and more easily to defend), again resulting in narrow plots with vegetable gardens/orchards extending far out. Sometimes these old patterns can be still seen today, even in now urbanised areas.
 
Not being blessed with the space for a model railway (due to dense urbanisation and consequently small apartments with little ancillary space, such as basements), my main interest is the landscaping etc. development. I guess, I have to wait a bit for that now ...
 

Nope, the rumor of my demise is greatly exaggerated haha.  Dropped in to give a bit of a status.  Still loads to go but the basic look is coming together.
 
Currently working bowsprit so I can get the masting into primer.  Then will transition to tie down rails / furniture.  Cannons are just stuck in (friction fit).  Will be blackened.

Walkway will be primed white prior to being planked like main deck.

Banding on masts done with 1mm Tamiya tape.

The prop and lift assembly have been put together but still need prime and paint.  Seems to reflect the pics as she currently sits better than what was supplied.

That is all for today.  Hope to have more in the coming weeks.
Mark

Keith and John,
 
MANY thanks for your kind input!
 
The pilothouse is done.
 
The rest of the pilothouse panels went quickly after I figured out what I needed to do. A couple of shots of the finished product. The roof brackets have been added, the stairs to the pilot house, and the painted roof.  I did not know what colour to pain the roof so I used the same grey as the hurricane deck.  “Colourized” picture postcards were not really helpful. They portrayed anything from a bright red to a possible silver and gold metallic.  I could tell from the JHC photo that it was dark and shiny, but no idea what it could have been. 
 


Another shot with the pilothouse placed but not affixed to the hurricane deck.
 

The next step will be something easy on the hurricane deck, probably ventilators and water tank. There are lots of items to put on the hurricane deck including stacks, a bell, lights, and numerous odds and ends.  But it is much simpler than Thistle was. Once that is complete, I need to do the bow attachments, rubbing strakes, &c. 
 

12. transition into show time

This is the point where I take pause and try to decide what I want to show when telling the story or in this case stories.   I have adjusted my thinking a bit.
 
Last year I told what I will call NW passage part 1 the Brits 1795 to 1850. The highlight of the story was of course the Franklin Expedition for which I built the HMS Terror diorama.  I have been studying the Norwegian explorers as I started this build and found the vessel Fram is inside too big a story to be part of this story. I thought I was going to build both together but have changed the order.  Also, due to time crunch, I have jumped to building a Viking Knarr, as I will go to Viking settlements next summer.  My NW Passage part II will feature this model of Gjoa but include the several expeditions leading through this one up to the MacMillan stories starting 1908 when he joined Robert Peary.  There is so much to add I will be fine. As to the NW passage, think about Rasmussen who walked [ sledged] the entire Northwest passage!!!
 
So Gjoa was magnificent in its ability to get through south of King William Island and stay successfully in Gjoa Haven for two years and near Herschel Island a third year. They kept having trouble with their gaff. It apparently broke several times, but all else seemed to work. What a tale… I think now I want to show her with perhaps just the mainsail up, still on her anchor getting ready to leave.   [ similar stage I used showing Bowdoin in 1924 after wintering north of Etah, Greenland.  ..
 
That said, I need to start the outside work on sails parallel to continuing with the rigging.  I am working the rig totally inside out. Most obvious is the shrouds will be later in the build, so I can fit my thick figures inside to make off lines and things first.
 
Before moving on, I want to make a sort plug to encourage other hobbyists to try simple 2D CAD. As only a hobbyist who is often outside my comfort zone, I want to  show how simple 2D CAD can assist in things like this project.  If one goes to the CAD section of MSW, one finds many people there are very advanced. I am not!   One needs not to be advanced to become very happy solving things and saving lots of time.  In this update I am planning for sails and the in-water display for the diorama. Let’s see how simple low-tech 2D CAD helps.   Sails.   Yes, I luckily have the 1950 Model shipway plans.  I scanned them and made jpgs.  Turbo Cad for windows is inexpensive and does all we need.  One needs to watch one or two U-tube videos to get the basics.  
  
Let’s see some work
1-3 here is a staging issue.  A year ago, I bought 6 sheets of colored acrylic.  Two are light and I used one for HMS Terror and save one for Fram.  I have two dark and two mid marine color. In the first view I show both colors. In the second view I selected the lighter color as the vessel will be in shallow water.  In the last image we show a dilemma that I still working through.  The acrylic is 16 by 24. Tip of Bowsprit to current stern in 28 + inches. If I turn the model diagonally it will fit.  If I am showing Ice in the water, I can hide the joints.  I need to think more about these options. In the end I will have a roughly 10 inch deep by 30-32 inch diarama that will sit on a shelf.....how to stretch the acyliic and not have an ugly joint. 4-6 The first two images show the result of doing TurboCad for the mainsail and the head sails. For the mainsail, which is a hair bigger than 11x17, I add all kinds of dimensions as I will need to lay it out on a large paper sheet and then work with the silk span.  For the head sails I just print them out like paper dolls.  The third image shows the three head sails, as paper dolls, temporarily in place.  I may change my mind later and make them like this image, but currently plan to have them furled. The mainsail paper doll is just a hair cropped but close enough for checking. I will also use it for transferring lines.
7  this image shows one of two hull plans in TurboCAD where I took thick lines and traced the outline of the hull in the half plan view provided in the Model Shipways. I already had scanned, inserted, and scaled that plan for layout of the deck.   Now I just add a layer [ watch on U-tube] and use the mirror function to copy the top outline and mirror it below the centerline.  I then added a cut line and two circles for alignment. I print it out on two 8.5 x 11 landscape viewports. 8 shows the two halves of the plan aligned and taped to use to plan the cut out.  I will cut out on scraps of cardboard to get the right size hole. It will some time before I do the one time only cut of the acrylic.   All for now
 

Progress on the 'Duchess' is only proceeding at a snail's pace at the moment. It's school holidays here in Oz, which means the museum is crowded with families every day and I barely have any time to get any work done. Coupled with that is the need to add some detail to the after end of the charthouse which was forgotten by previous builders. This is a little difficult as everything in the area has been solidly glued in place and I don't want to have to destroy major structures. These details had to be fitted now because they will be completely impossible to get to once the spanker boom is rigged.
The good news is that the fiddley little bits are now in place, so I can go ahead with the rigging of the jigger mast while continuing with details in other parts of the ship.
As you can see in the images below, the spanker boom is no fitted and partly rigged while the mizzen rope coils have been completed and the ratlines on the foremast are proceeding slowly.
Once the kids are back at school things might proceed a little faster, although we have a couple of shorts breaks away planned in the first part of the year.
 
John

 
 

I think I have all of the dimensions and quantities sorted out, though time will tell. Lining up requirements with available supplies is then a whole other challenge but I have ordered cherry in 1/4 by 1/4 and 1/4 by 3, along with basswood in 1/32 x 1/32, 1/32 x 4, 1/16 x 4, 3/32 x 4, 1/8 x 1/8 and 1/8 x 4 (!), all ModelExpo product through Canada's Great Hobbies store. With the package sizes available, I will probably end up with enough to make three or four workboats but, no doubt, I'll find something else to build with the excess.
 
Unless anyone asks, I will hang onto the spreadsheet of dimensions until it is proven -- one way or the other.
 
Trevor

First of all, I would like to echo the others on the planking job 👍🏻
 
On decked boats (as on ships), I think the mast would be round, where it passes through the (upper) deck, as a round opening would be easier to keep water-tight, though usually a tarred/painted 'manchette' of canvass would be put around it, tied to the mast and nailed down onto the deck.
 
A square or rectangular tennon fit into the keelson would prevent the mast from turning. However, whether this would be sufficient in the case of an unstayed mast, I don't really know.
 

Thanks, @Rick310, @Paul Le Wol, @Keith Black, @Kenchington, @wefalck, @Stubby, and all those who have checked in with likes and page views!
 
@Kenchington and @wefalck, I agree that evidence seems to show that the mast was round where it left the deck. I hadn't considered that a round opening would be less prone to leaking than a square one, but it makes sense. Interestingly, the lancha chilota (my last build) did have a squared off mast at the deck, so I approached this build with that in mind. Unfortunately I already squared the mast step and accidentally made it a bit large, so I'll need to figure out how to build it back up a little. Which is tricky with the hull already planked in.
 
@Stubby, I decided to leave the deck off so I could remove the visible bulkheads from the cockpit and add frames after planking. This left the bulkheads a little flimsy for fairing, so I added a bunch of internal supports. I'll be planking over the kit-supplied deck, so it's not the end of the world if the hull planking doesn't fully join up exactly with the side of the deck. I had to take into account the thickness of the deck while setting up my planking runs and the width of the sheer strake. Even taking that into account, I'll be making the sheer plank a bit excessively high and sanding it down once the deck is in place.

First of all, I would like to echo the others on the planking job 👍🏻
 
On decked boats (as on ships), I think the mast would be round, where it passes through the (upper) deck, as a round opening would be easier to keep water-tight, though usually a tarred/painted 'manchette' of canvass would be put around it, tied to the mast and nailed down onto the deck.
 
A square or rectangular tennon fit into the keelson would prevent the mast from turning. However, whether this would be sufficient in the case of an unstayed mast, I don't really know.
 

First of all, I would like to echo the others on the planking job 👍🏻
 
On decked boats (as on ships), I think the mast would be round, where it passes through the (upper) deck, as a round opening would be easier to keep water-tight, though usually a tarred/painted 'manchette' of canvass would be put around it, tied to the mast and nailed down onto the deck.
 
A square or rectangular tennon fit into the keelson would prevent the mast from turning. However, whether this would be sufficient in the case of an unstayed mast, I don't really know.
 

First of all, I would like to echo the others on the planking job 👍🏻
 
On decked boats (as on ships), I think the mast would be round, where it passes through the (upper) deck, as a round opening would be easier to keep water-tight, though usually a tarred/painted 'manchette' of canvass would be put around it, tied to the mast and nailed down onto the deck.
 
A square or rectangular tennon fit into the keelson would prevent the mast from turning. However, whether this would be sufficient in the case of an unstayed mast, I don't really know.
 

First of all, I would like to echo the others on the planking job 👍🏻
 
On decked boats (as on ships), I think the mast would be round, where it passes through the (upper) deck, as a round opening would be easier to keep water-tight, though usually a tarred/painted 'manchette' of canvass would be put around it, tied to the mast and nailed down onto the deck.
 
A square or rectangular tennon fit into the keelson would prevent the mast from turning. However, whether this would be sufficient in the case of an unstayed mast, I don't really know.
 

Thanks, @Stubby, I enjoy research about as much as building! And thanks, @Keith Black, for the pump examples!
 
More work on planking. I've been able to get a little better at lining up the top line of the plank joints.

 
One issue I've had is that, due to the different plank widths and strake lines of my model compared to the kit design, I haven't been able to use much of the kit-designed prespiled planks. It feels like a real waste--it's a great feature of the kit, but it doesn't really work if you go with lapstrake planking. So I was happy that, for the next strake, which is the one below the sheer strake, I realized that I could make it from the kit-supplied sheer strake, which for whatever reason was slightly too short to work as the sheer strake on mine. (Maybe my transom extends a little farther aft than it should? Or I screwed up something in the scan and laser cut process?)  It's a lot wider than the normal planks, so I could spile from it, as seen below.

 
At this point, there's very little bulkhead to clamp to, so I've had to be a bit creative with rubber bands.

 

 
I now just have the sheer strake left to add. I feel like, for a vessel of this size, it would probably be best to make it from a single piece, although I'm not looking forward to the complex gluing process that will entail. I'm pleased with the lapstrake planking so far. Before painting, I think I'll add a coat of shellac to help seal and strengthen the wood so I can touch up any stringy/ragged visible edges.

 

 

 
Elsewhere, I've begun work on the rudder and mast. The mast is made from two layers of basswood, which mitigates against the relative weakness of basswood as a mast.

 
Before I round off the mast, I need to decide whether it should be round all the way through, or squared-off at the deck. My initial thought was that, on an unstayed mast, a square cross section low down would keep it from spinning around. I began cutting the mast step partners square, but accidentally made them bigger than they should be, so it doesn't quite fit like it should and I'll need to take care when I step the mast. Moreover, it looks like Chapelle's plan shows a round mast at the deck, so maybe I should just round it all. I'm also trying to figure out whether to use brass rod or wood for the rudder shaft.

Added the rear light bar and braces, the number plate and racing number will go over this 

1:192 is going to be an interesting scale for a rigged model. It sort of falls between the scales at which you can more or less fake actual rigging practice and the 'miniaturists' scale, where you have to 'fake' everything in the sense that you have visually correct impression, but no functionality. Having to face this challenge in the not too distant future in 1:160 scale, I will follow that REDJACKET project as well.
 

The lower part of the pilothouse has been completed.  All of the windows are in and the interior finished.  

For the inside of the pilothouse, I used Bates and some photos of Moyie’s pilothouse.  One of the photos of Moyie's pilothouse is below. Note the pea green interior which was prevalent in that locale. 

The box behind the wheel is a compass (and donation box).  A radiator was in front of the wheel on the right-hand side, the lazy bench on the left.  JHC probably had some type of a bench, but since it was not an overnight boat, the bench did not have to double as a bed.  Again, I used a radiator as I never saw a chimney for a pilothouse stove.  Radiators were appropriate for that time period.  

A few shots of the finished product are below.  


I used dry transfer lettering for the nameplate. A shorter boat name other than J H Crawford would have been easier on the nameplate. 


The next step is the challenging roof.  I can assure you that beast will take some time and multiple versions will be made before the final product is created. 

 

Well, hand-cranking is what moves any manual milling machine or lathe. For some milling machines you can buy electric drives for the x-axis (or make one yourself), but this is for long, end-to-end surface cuts only. The other option is CNC, which requires a lot of programming and typically is not worth it for one-of parts (you end up making several trial parts before all parameters are set righ).
 
I never worked with a MF70, only played around on it in shops, but have the feeling that the hand-wheels are too small for the pitch of the lead-screws. Personally, I would replace them with slightly larger ball-handle cranks, which give you a better feel when doing precision work. In that way you also get rid of the sloppy, turning handles that are detrimental to a good feel of what is going on at the milling cutter.
 

I am using a similar technique for ice as for water that I developed back in the early 1980s or so, albeit with somewhat different materials available then.
 
Basically I glue a sheet of acrylic (perhaps 2 or 3 mm thick) onto a wooden base. There is a cut-out for the (waterline-)model, which has to extend beneath the waterline by the thickness of the acrylic glass.. This wooden base has been painted appropriately to represent the water under the ice-sheet. The acrylic glass is then given a coat of acrylic gel-medium to represent the somewhat irregular water/ice surface. Snow on the ice can be represented by glueing 'micro-balloons', crushed glass (can be bought in hobby stores I think - my supply still comes from my teenage railway model days), or crystalline sugar(!) onto it. This is a good strategy for closed ice-sheets or what is called 'pancake' ice. If you want larger ice-floes, you have to glue with acrylic gel-medium very thin pieces of broken glass (use gloves and pliers and goggles) or acrylic glass before covering everything in the gel-medium.
 
Below is a scene of a Zuiderzee-botter frozen-in that I created some ten years ago:



Unfortunately, I don't seem to have taken pictures of the actual process.
The scene was based on this picture that I took in Enkhuizen in 2009:

It is, indeed, important to study photographs of the situation you want to create.

Didn’t I mention in an earlier reply that those scraped and oiled/varnished strakes were common in N-Europe between the 1820s and 1860s, when all black became the fashion. Norway may have held on longer to the old fashion.

Your metal work looks just so good and convincing 👍🏻
 
If I am not mistaken, Tufnol is a kind of cotton-fabric reinforced phenolic resin (Bakelite). It also goes by the trade name of Novotex, for instance. It is normally a kind of reddish mid-brown. It is light, wear-resistant (in the former GDR car-make Trabant, some of the transmission gears were made from it, as well as parts of the bodywork), and weather-resistant. On yachts, block-sheaves and -shells are made from it.
 

Your metal work looks just so good and convincing 👍🏻
 
If I am not mistaken, Tufnol is a kind of cotton-fabric reinforced phenolic resin (Bakelite). It also goes by the trade name of Novotex, for instance. It is normally a kind of reddish mid-brown. It is light, wear-resistant (in the former GDR car-make Trabant, some of the transmission gears were made from it, as well as parts of the bodywork), and weather-resistant. On yachts, block-sheaves and -shells are made from it.
 

Actually, nail-polish smells aromatic not toxic - the son of organic chemist talking
 

No, they were running all the way through because they are, as I said earlier, structural parts that strengthen the hull at deck level.
 
The scuppers are lead or copper pipes of around 2" internal diameter that lead from the corner below deck and the outboard, probably somewhere above the wale, say 1 to 1.5' below deck level.
 
There would be different ways of simulating these scuppers:
- The simples way would be to drill an appropriately sized hole, chamfer it a bit with a burr and then turn a soft pencil in the hole to simulate the lead - good for small scales.
- Drill hole as before and insert a piece of cored solder wire from both ends; the core has to be bored out with an appropriately sized drill; flare out the ends.
- There are small copper sleeves on the market that would be crimped over electrical wire instead of soldering; use instead of the solder wire; they can be found in electronics shops.
 

Actually, nail-polish smells aromatic not toxic - the son of organic chemist talking
 

Keep in mind, that there are now two fundamentally different types of nail-varnish: the traditional, organic-solvent based one and the newer, acrylic emulsion-based ones. Both require different solvents.