wefalck

Steamboat

 

Many thanks to all that hit the like button. 
@Jim Lad  Thanks John, really it is a very elegant hull!
@Bedford I had a bit of a hardware issue so suspense to be prolonged for a few days - I suspect the boat will appeal to you as well!
@wefalck I did think about this and I have half decided to leave this out, for two reasons: One is that I do not like the plating which is random with a large curved belt along the length of the hull, such elegant lines deserve better. Second is that I ve been fighting cracks between the planks, I ve already filled and sanded three times but the planks keep moving. Not sure why as the pear I am using is very old and dry, perhaps I have not used enough frames. In any case, the plank lines will show no matter what I do so maybe best to leave it as a wooden hull instead of simulating a riveted steel hull.
 
Ok, some more photos:
 
The hull is now filled, sanded to 320 grit, sealed and sanded lightly to 400 grit - then sealed again and re-sanded to 400 grit. I actually intended to use a blade to scrape the hull but I forgot to do it, it would have been faster. Still, the hull is now very smooth. I ve left the little feet to the hull as they ll help to mark the water line.

Happily, the stern also came out alright


There are several opening to be cut out to the bulwarks as well as some more  work to be done before painting

This is pretty much as far as I ve gone studying the plans and the boat. I need to figure out the stern layout and tiller mechanism, finish the bulwarks and start work on the superstructure (started already, again some happy accidents in my CAD drawings)
 
In the mean time I cleaned and tidied up the shipyard, thought I d share some photos

Sanding station with the new toy, Proxxon MF 70 - not sure what I can do with it but I had some credit with Axminster so chose this.

Cutting/drilling station

Work bench

Take care all
Vaddoc

Thanks!
 
A little more testing, and I think I have the jib hanks figured out. I can get the rings down to an inner diameter of about 1/16-inch, which is still probably slightly oversized but any smaller and I'd have a very hard time working with them (it's already hard enough even just to get my metal cutters into the ring to cut them). I also switched to using the same method I used on the mast hoops to lace them to the sail, entailing first attaching the rope to the ring and then tying on the sail. This holds the ring perpendicular to the sail instead of parallel. It took a few practice runs to get it right, as seen below:

The three tries at top right were either a little bulky, or, in the case of the one on the corner, I added a little too much super glue to the initial knot and the rope became too stiff to be run through the eyelet properly, instead holding the ring too far out from the edge of the sail. The test at bottom left is where it finally came together.
 
All of these tests, except for the early ones that used only fly-tying thread, used the cut-off bits of .35mm rope from the gaff robands and mast hoop lacing. These were tiny scraps, about 1 inch long, making it very hard to tie the knots. For the final version, I think I can go with lengths of rope about 1.75 inches long, which should be much easier to work with, without quite using all of my available. 35mm rope, as I'd like to keep a little as backup in case something needs to be redone. I think the hanks would probably look better with .25mm rope, but I don't have any, so these will have to do.

Greetings Fellow Modelers,
 
Thanks for the comments and "likes".
 
In the past several months, the most I’ve seen of the Pelican has been when walking by it. This is due to a lack of time and not a lack of interest, but with a friendly nudge from Phil, here’s an update on what I have been doing - sacrificial hull sheathing and protective sheet metal in way of the gallows frames. I want to mention that Phil @Dr PR has already installed protective hull sheathing (a feature rarely modeled) on his excellent USS Cape build. Check it out if you haven't already.
 
In my last post, I described the construction of the gallows frames and associated brackets. It would seem logical that the next step is to now paint, weather, and install these frames. But doing so now would greatly complicate installing the sheet metal below the gallows. This led to yet another task that had to be done before the sheet metal could go on - laying down the protective hull sheathing.
 
Many mid-century wooden fishing boats in New England had partial sheathing that protected the hull from damage when raising and lowering the heavy trawl gear. This sheathing (typically ¾” oak) was sacrificial, and the planks were installed straight and untapered making them easy to replace/repair. The Roann, built in 1946, is a small eastern-rig dragger in the collection of the Mystic Seaport Museum. It was designed by Albert Condon a few years after he designed the Pelican. In the photo below one can see that the sheathing under the starboard gallows extends down below the waterline nearly to the keel. The sheathing also extends forward in a waterline band all the way to the stem. This forward band of sheathing was added to protect the hull from floating ice slabs at a time when harbor freeze-overs were not uncommon. Because the Roann was not equipped to “drag” off port side, only the waterline sheathing was installed, which extends back to midships.
 

 
 
Based on the plans and other boats by the same designer, here’s what the sheathing looks like on the Pelican.  The boards are scale ¾” by 4” and will be applied to both sides, because this vessel could drag off both sides.
 

 
 
Vertical strips of wood are installed against the end grain to reduce water absorption, crushing and splintering of the board ends. Perhaps tar or some other waterproofing was slathered on the ends before the vertical strips were attached.
 

 
 
The sheathing extends onto the stem.
 

 
 
I added the rub rail which sits just below bottom of deck. It’s made up of two pieces which combined stand out from the hull about 3 scale inches. The outer piece is half round styrene.
 

 
 
In the cross section below the sheet metal under the aft gallows is highlighted in blue. The metal is #10 galvanized steel, about .138” (3.5mm) thick. I don’t have a forward cross section of this detail to show, but it’s very similar. Note the added wood structure that holds the sheet metal out from the bulwark and guides it over the rub rail.
 

 
 
The main area of sheet metal consists of seven vertical sections, so the structure is constructed to support them.  Here’s the forward support framing.
 

 
 
And the aft framing.
 

 
 
The drawing below shows the individual sheet panels and their arrangement – also there’s a “U” shaped cap that fits over the rail.
 

 
 
I drew up the forward starboard sheet-metal group in CAD and then adjusted it to match the “as-built” framing of the support structure. On the full sized boat, the vertical panel seams overlap, but on the model they simply butt to each other. The drawing was separated into individual panels to be used as templates.
 

 
 
Thinking that copper would be the material to simulate the metal, I purchased foil that closely scaled to the actual #10 gauge used on the real boat – but that was a bust. While the copper was malleable enough, it dented, scratched and crinkle creased way too easily and so I tried a variety of different materials including aluminum, brass, paper, card and styrene. Each had appeal and issues, but for the small panels on this model, I decided on using inkjet photo paper instead. More precisely, the reverse side of the paper because of its smooth coated surface. It sort of looks and feels like styrene and there’s no sign of fiber. When folded, it creates a nice sharp bend, and the cut edges are clean and fuzz free. This paper is left over from when I had an ink printer, and I suspect any dense hard surface paper would work just as well. Out of curiosity, I did try painting the front “photo” side of the paper. Not good. Think of how an old photo looks that’s been folded, creased, reopened and flattened.
 
Anyway, I printed out the templates directly to the reverse side of the photo paper and cut free the lower section panel to work on first. The upper seven vertical panels will shingle over this panel.
 
I began by slowly going around the perimeter with a black permanent marker allowing time for the paper to absorb the ink. I then flattened/burnished the edges with a spoon shaped sculpting tool.
 

 
 
I then colored it with oxide black acrylic ink.
 

 
 
I painted it with True Metal “iron” and stippled it to remove brush strokes while allowing some small peaks to remain. No attempt at a uniform look.
 

 
 
Letting the paint dry half an hour or so, I then polished the surface with a scrap piece of clean styrene sheet. I just flop the styrene (about 4” square) on top and briskly rub in one direction at a time. The thickness and pattern of paint that was applied in combination with the speed and pressure used when polishing will yield different results.
 
This process reminds me of the drywall texturing I did on a house we renovated about thirty years ago. Called “orange peel knockdown”, it was all the rage back then and great for obscuring a less than stellar drywall installation. The procedure was to splatter spray drywall mud on the wall, wait for it to partially dry, and then knockdown the peaks with a clean trowel. Similar idea here in micro scale.
 

 
 
You can create a variety of different looks by modifying the paint thickness, texture and by how long you let it dry. The test piece on the left in the photo below is True Metal iron on .005” styrene. The paint was gently streaked vertically with just the edge of a toothbrush, allowed to dry then polished with the styrene sheet.  In the middle is TM steel with a speck of burnt umber oil paint added and then applied to 24lb copy paper. The paint wasn’t quite dry when polished leaving long streaks. On the right is TM iron on the back side of photo paper. Because all these materials are thin, any imperfections on the work surface will telegraph up onto the surface of the "metal". This can be used to advantage. Back to the example on the right, I took a piece of double-sided cellophane tape with a fine thread stuck to it and fixed it to my work surface. Placing the photo paper on top and polishing it left a vertical image on the metal. A close look even reveals where the butt end of the tape was. This works so well because the paint is wax based and it’s looking for any excuse to clot. A slight protrusion or hump that develops a hot spot when polished is all it needs. For size reference, the piece on the right is a tad over 1” square.
 

 
 
I cut the seven vertical pieces out and blackened their perimeters. It would have been great to do this as a single piece, but it needs to bend in two dimensions, so that was out.
 

 
 
Painted.
 

 
So here it is all glued to the boat. I used aluminum for the “U” shaped rail cap and applied the same paint and polish to it. The paper cap just looked lumpy.
 
The hull paint is not final and it’s more of a color test than anything.  Hull weathering won't be for some time, but I want to see how the metal weathering will look surrounded by those colors. Typically, I like to start with something that looks new and progressively add wear and age.  This "metal" clearly needs darkening, dents, gouges, streaking, rust and other fun stuff.  
 

 
I wish I liked this metal more than I do, so, I’m going to take another crack at using styrene for the aft metal work and see how they compare. I'll post those results and that of the weathering.
 
Until next time – Take care and thanks for stopping by.
 
Gary

Sorry, the Versailles reference went into the wrong forum and thread - to many things going on at the moment.
 
In the building thread mentioned above there should be historical photograph or two that shows the drive arrangement on GJØA.
 

Look for a building log on the Norwegian GJØA, I seem to remember that she used a chain drive from a petrol engine to the spill/winch.

Sorry, the Versailles reference went into the wrong forum and thread - to many things going on at the moment.
 
In the building thread mentioned above there should be historical photograph or two that shows the drive arrangement on GJØA.
 

Sorry, the Versailles reference went into the wrong forum and thread - to many things going on at the moment.
 
In the building thread mentioned above there should be historical photograph or two that shows the drive arrangement on GJØA.
 

I just checked the pictures of GJØA that I took, when I visited the museum in 2019. However, at that time non gypsie-chaindrive was rigged though some chain was wrapped around the deck-winch. 
 
BTW, I may pop over to Versailles, but as I am between travels, I am not sure I will really manage.
 

I've done a little bit of testing for the hanks. I made some small rings with 28-gauge wire and tried a few methods of attaching them. Below, there are three samples.

 
The center one was the first I made, using fly-tying thread that I looped and tied through the sail eyelet a few times before tying on the ring. It didn't turn out very well, with the final knot barely holding on thanks only to superglue. The left example also uses fly-tying thread, but this time I only passed it through the eyelet once before looping it through the ring, and then going back through the eyelet a bit before tying it off. It turned out better, but 1) I need more distance between the ring and the sail, and 2) the thread snagged on who knows what and created a tangled bunch of fibers. I find this happens fairly often when I try to use fly-tying thread. Finally, the one on the right used a bit of the .35mm rope, secured with a couple knots and a lashing with the fly-tying thread. I think this one turned out best, although it was also the most complex to make.
 
That said, my sense is that the metal ring is still too big. You can compare what the current size would look like on the jib, below (I tucked the test behind the jib), with some photographic examples that generally show quite small hanks.

 

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-320749.html
 

Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas
 

Source: https://www.memoriasdelsigloxx.cl/601/w3-article-86076.html
 
I'm not sure if the best solution is to keep going the way I've been going, but to make the rings a bit smaller, or to use black rope to represent the hanks instead, as it would produce a smaller hank.

Glad to have been of service ...
 
As to the robands vs. continous lacing, I have seen both used on the same sail. I didn't check on the photographs, but was the foot of the sail actually tied to the boom? On vernacular craft sails were often loose-footed, as this allowed tricing them up quickly and thus take the pressure out of a sail e.g. in an emergency.
 
Whether and how a sail was tied to the boom may also be depending on whether the boom was used as a cargo derrick. Robands may be easier to untie than to unravel a continuous lacing.
 

Yes, some of the tugs did have indeed rather sleek hulls.
 
How will you simulate the plating?

Look for a building log on the Norwegian GJØA, I seem to remember that she used a chain drive from a petrol engine to the spill/winch.

I think that it would have been a chain-drive. Leather belts would break, if humid and frozen. I have never seen belt-drives on ships, but chain-drives seem to have been fairly common at a time before electrical direct drives became the norm.
 

The problem is, that it only works for the set of diameters provide in the tool ...

In spite of a week's travel for business, I managed to get done a part:
 
*********************

The Main Hatch
 
The main hatch will be shown closed, so I could revert to my usual technique of milling it from a solid piece of acrylic glass. In fact, the piece forms a core and as sharp corners for the recess into which the hatch covers fit is needed, around it strips of 1 mm acrylic glass were cemented. This arrangement was milled to size and shape as shown previously. To make it visually more interesting a quarter-round cove was milled into the outer edge with a 0.5 mm ball-burr. In real life, this would also prevent the wood from splintering, when hit by something during loading.

Milling a quarter-round cove into the coaming of the main-hatch
 
The cover was assumed to be in three parts, each planked with short lengths of plank. The cover is made from a tight-fitting piece of bakelite paper into which the planks were engraved, as was done for the deck-planks. Making hatch and cover in separate pieces allows to paint it with sharp edges. The cover will be simulated to be natural wood.

The main-hatch with the cover inserted
 
Eventually, the hatch will be fitted with clamps for the battens to tie-down the canvas cover. That will be done at a later stage to avoid damage during fitting the part into the deck.
 
To be continued …

In spite of a week's travel for business, I managed to get done a part:
 
*********************

The Main Hatch
 
The main hatch will be shown closed, so I could revert to my usual technique of milling it from a solid piece of acrylic glass. In fact, the piece forms a core and as sharp corners for the recess into which the hatch covers fit is needed, around it strips of 1 mm acrylic glass were cemented. This arrangement was milled to size and shape as shown previously. To make it visually more interesting a quarter-round cove was milled into the outer edge with a 0.5 mm ball-burr. In real life, this would also prevent the wood from splintering, when hit by something during loading.

Milling a quarter-round cove into the coaming of the main-hatch
 
The cover was assumed to be in three parts, each planked with short lengths of plank. The cover is made from a tight-fitting piece of bakelite paper into which the planks were engraved, as was done for the deck-planks. Making hatch and cover in separate pieces allows to paint it with sharp edges. The cover will be simulated to be natural wood.

The main-hatch with the cover inserted
 
Eventually, the hatch will be fitted with clamps for the battens to tie-down the canvas cover. That will be done at a later stage to avoid damage during fitting the part into the deck.
 
To be continued …

Look for a building log on the Norwegian GJØA, I seem to remember that she used a chain drive from a petrol engine to the spill/winch.

I think that it would have been a chain-drive. Leather belts would break, if humid and frozen. I have never seen belt-drives on ships, but chain-drives seem to have been fairly common at a time before electrical direct drives became the norm.
 

Excellent metal work as usual.
 
What do you use as heat-sink to prevent parts already soldered from falling apart?

I think that it would have been a chain-drive. Leather belts would break, if humid and frozen. I have never seen belt-drives on ships, but chain-drives seem to have been fairly common at a time before electrical direct drives became the norm.
 

Excellent metal work as usual.
 
What do you use as heat-sink to prevent parts already soldered from falling apart?

Excellent metal work as usual.
 
What do you use as heat-sink to prevent parts already soldered from falling apart?

Yes, some of the tugs did have indeed rather sleek hulls.
 
How will you simulate the plating?

I think that it would have been a chain-drive. Leather belts would break, if humid and frozen. I have never seen belt-drives on ships, but chain-drives seem to have been fairly common at a time before electrical direct drives became the norm.