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wefalck

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  1. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from Keith Black in Steam Schooner Wapama 1915 by Paul Le Wol - Scale 1/72 = From Plans Drawn By Don Birkholtz Sr.   
    The small pad under the bit to slide under the deck is actually a clever idea 👍🏻
  2. Thanks!
    wefalck got a reaction from Paul Le Wol in Steam Schooner Wapama 1915 by Paul Le Wol - Scale 1/72 = From Plans Drawn By Don Birkholtz Sr.   
    The small pad under the bit to slide under the deck is actually a clever idea 👍🏻
  3. Like
    wefalck reacted to Paul Le Wol in Steam Schooner Wapama 1915 by Paul Le Wol - Scale 1/72 = From Plans Drawn By Don Birkholtz Sr.   
    Hi Everyone, hope you are all doing fine. Thanks to all for the Comments and Likes! This update starts with the making of the waterways for the foc'sle deck. They were cut from a sheet of 1/16" AYC and sanded to shape.
     

     
     

     
    The coamings are made by layering three  1/16" x 3/16" strips. The waterways were scribed to show where the center plank is located and pins were placed to support it while it was attached with CA.
     

     
    The outer plank was glued to the center plank and the waterway with white PVA
     

     
     

     
     

     
    The inner planks were glued to the center planks and the waterways also with PVA. The  thickness of the inner plank was tapered to 1/32" because the coaming gets narrower towards the aft end.
     

     
    I made a sanding stick long enough to span the deck and sanded the tops smooth
     

     
    The coaming across the aft edge of the deck was installed and after some sanding it went to the paint booth
     

     
    The deck planking was laid out to where it stops at the pad for the anchor winch. The 18" x 18" bitt slides into the hole that was left in the bulkhead former
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     
    The planking from the winch pad aft and the forward planking didn't match in width so the next planks on either side of the pad needed a width adjustment.
     

     
     

     
    The  smaller bitts port and starboard were the next obstacles. A small pad was glued to the bottom of these bitts to to help them sit vertically when they are glued to the horizontal bulkhead spacer just below the subdeck
     

     
    The last planks go and get all fancy. They will be covered in the next update
     

     
     

     
    Hope to see you then 
  4. Like
    wefalck reacted to Keith Black in Sternwheeler From the Susquehanna River's Hard Coal Navy by Keith Black - 1:120 Scale   
    As @mcb noted in post #31 there is evidence of hogging in the original photo. This towboat has 1930's technology so I assume it was built around 1935 but the deckhand is dressed in bluejeans, teeshirt, and baseball cap which didn't come into style until the late 40's early 50's. The quality of the photo and the deckhands dress suggest to me the photo was taken about 1955. That would mean the vessel had been in service for at least 20 years.  

     
    In the below photo is what appears to be an anti-hogging system. 
     
     A. Turnbuckle. 
     
     B. Large Clevis joint.
     
     C. Eighteen inch support post were the pipe/rod passed through hole drilled a the top of the post. 
     
     I assume the pipe/rod run below the waterline to the bottom of the hull. 
     
     
     Whether this design was in place when the boat was built or after hogging stated to stop any further hogging is anyone's guess. It's not much of a system compared to the designs we see in other paddlewheel vessels. It's another quirky piece in a likewise quirky boat. 

     
     Any thoughts are appreciated, thank you for following along,
     
       Keith
  5. Like
    wefalck reacted to JacquesCousteau in Bateau de Lanvéoc by JacquesCousteau - Scale 1:32 - From Ancre Plans   
    Two more frames--II and III--glued up and dry-fit. At this point, only the cant frames are left.

     

     

     

     
    The shape of the hull is really starting to come together by now.

     
    But, an issue. Looking at the side view in the plans, you can see that several frames are supposed to extend beyond the sheer.

     
    But of the frames I've made so far (II-XV), only II extends beyond the sheer. XII, XIV, and XV all end at the sheer, following the frame sheet of the plans, when the side plans show them as extended. It's a little hard to tell because I've left all frames a little long, which I suppose means I can try to extend them a bit, but maybe not quite as much as given in the plans. I have to admit that this is very frustrating--part of the point of buying a plan set like this, instead of developing this all from scratch, is that you assume the plans will be consistent between sheets. Ah well, I guess that the extensions will just be a little stumpy compared with the plan sheet.
  6. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from cotrecerf in Iron Stropped Blocks - Kate Cory Whaling Brig   
    Are you referring to externally or internally iron-stropped blocks?
     
    The latter have been in use at least since the 17th century for specific heavy-duty applications, such as cat-tackles, but were not used much in the rigging as such - the external strop could cause damage to sails etc.
     
    Internally stropped blocks are much more complicated to manufacture for both, the prototype and the model. Hence, they were only used, when higher load-bearing capacity was required. They have to be attached to spars or rigging with either a hook or a ring that was forged as part of the strop. This restricts their use to certain locations.
     
    Hooks were used e.g. for blocks attached to masts or where they were constantly under load. Otherrwise their is a risk that they became unhooked, even when a musing was used.
     
    I gather blocks with rings only became more common when chain and wire-rope were introduced into the running rigging. They required shackles, which in turn only became more common once thread-cutting became standardised after the middle of the 19th century. With wire-rope only internally stropped blocks can be used, as it would not be possible to make safe strops from wire - the radii required are too tight around the block.
     
    From a mechanical perspective internally stropped blocks are a much better proposition than externally iron-stropped blocks, as the strop supports the axle just outside the sheave and is not separated from it by the wooden shell. The wooden shell is only there to prevent chaving and hooking in rigging and sails.
     
    Making internally stropped blocks in small sizes, say below 2 mm length has been bugging me for decades, as there is very little material for attaching a hook or eyebolt.
     
     
     
  7. Thanks!
    wefalck got a reaction from CPDDET in Iron Stropped Blocks - Kate Cory Whaling Brig   
    Are you referring to externally or internally iron-stropped blocks?
     
    The latter have been in use at least since the 17th century for specific heavy-duty applications, such as cat-tackles, but were not used much in the rigging as such - the external strop could cause damage to sails etc.
     
    Internally stropped blocks are much more complicated to manufacture for both, the prototype and the model. Hence, they were only used, when higher load-bearing capacity was required. They have to be attached to spars or rigging with either a hook or a ring that was forged as part of the strop. This restricts their use to certain locations.
     
    Hooks were used e.g. for blocks attached to masts or where they were constantly under load. Otherrwise their is a risk that they became unhooked, even when a musing was used.
     
    I gather blocks with rings only became more common when chain and wire-rope were introduced into the running rigging. They required shackles, which in turn only became more common once thread-cutting became standardised after the middle of the 19th century. With wire-rope only internally stropped blocks can be used, as it would not be possible to make safe strops from wire - the radii required are too tight around the block.
     
    From a mechanical perspective internally stropped blocks are a much better proposition than externally iron-stropped blocks, as the strop supports the axle just outside the sheave and is not separated from it by the wooden shell. The wooden shell is only there to prevent chaving and hooking in rigging and sails.
     
    Making internally stropped blocks in small sizes, say below 2 mm length has been bugging me for decades, as there is very little material for attaching a hook or eyebolt.
     
     
     
  8. Like
    wefalck reacted to JacquesCousteau in Bateau de Lanvéoc by JacquesCousteau - Scale 1:32 - From Ancre Plans   
    Well, once again I said I was looking forward to getting back to work on this build, and then made very little progress. I made a few more frames, and, while working on autopilot, accidentally trimmed one futtock at the wrong point, as seen below, and had to remake the piece.

     
    Despite that, yesterday I reached an important milestone: upon cutting out the frame pieces below, I have now finally finished sawing out all the frame parts! (Unless I have to remake more...)

     
    It certainly took a while to reach this point, and indeed, pretty much every aspect of this build is going slowly. There are a few reasons for this. I can only access the fretsaw in the carpentry workshop. I've only been able to attend a few times over the past month, and have been focused there on making a tea box, so I haven't had much time for sawing. The plan sheet takes up pretty much all my workspace at home, making it a bit of a hassle to glue up the frames, and the sanding generates a ton of dust--even with a mask on, I prefer to do it on out balcony, but that means I can only sand during the day when it's not raining (and when we haven't hung laundry there to dry). Not to mention that slowly sanding the frames is pretty tedious work.
     
    But this build is more of a marathon than a sprint. Two more frames were glued up last night:

     
    At the moment, I have ten frames glued up and dry-fit, although they'll need a lot more shaping before they can be glued. I'll also need to figure out the cant frames soon.

     

  9. Like
    wefalck reacted to dafi in Showing the teeth: Presentation of guns on models   
    Thank you very much druxey.
     
    I took the orientation from the picts of Victory´s guns, but without this hint the side shift wasn´t to realise for me. Too much black barrel around 😉
     

     
    No problem to move to the side. The advantage of printing.
     
    So the artefact of the cover in Thorsminde also could be complet? I always guessed that one side broke off. But seen the assymetrical position it could be still intact?

    XXXDAn
     
  10. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from thibaultron in 18th century slipway revealed   
    It's a nice site and seems to have been considerably developed since I visited in 1994. The rea around is also pretty.
     
     
  11. Wow!
    wefalck reacted to dafi in Showing the teeth: Presentation of guns on models   
    Ok, let's talk about something we guys know more about: ze big guns.

    Or at least we think we do.

    In the past, model guns were mostly rotational pieces, and only larger-scale models were retrofitted with details such as ignition pans and coats of arms. These were custom-made or complex castings. With the printing the excuse of the effort involved no longer applies. That's why I finally finished the new guns for my Victory.

    And here starts a new point of discussion about how to present the guns. Not saying that the classical we usually show is wrong, but as an opener for mind and possibilities. Just to stir things up 😉

    The version we usually show is with an exposed touch hole and without a tompion is simply how we know these things from museums and recovered from wrecks long time ago.

    But in real seafaring life this appearance was probably rather rare, it was probably mostly different:
    There are enough orders, records and wreck finds that describe the guns as most of the times ‘loaded’ during the period of 1800 and before. This also means that the powder charge stored inside the barrel had to be protected from water and moisture. For this purpose, tompions, simple wooden turned parts, were used as plugs at the front. They can be seen in many paintings, mostly white.

    The sensitive touch hole also had to be protected. Lead covers were used for this purpose, which protected the touch hole of dirt and, if the gun was equipped with one, the gunlock, and above all protected the hole against fire and sparks.

    When the gun was made ready for battle, the tompion was removed as late as possible and the cover of the touch hole was removed also only shortly before the shot was to be fired.

    Thus, in real life, there were mainly the following 2 conditions:
    - Stowed, lashed down, run out with cover over the touch hole or gunlock and with tompion
    - Shortly before firing, without cover over the touch hole or gunlock and without tompion

    Here we have the triad of touch hole, gunlock and cover in comparison:

    And here are the five gun sizes required for the Victory:
    32-pounder medium lower battery deck, 24-pounder medium middle battery deck, 12-pounder long upper battery deck, 12-pounder medium aft, 12-pounder short quarterdeck.


    The classic ‘pure’ representation with open touch hole
     
    With gun lock. It is worth considering that the tompion could also be set if the enemy is not yet within firing range.
     
    And with cover and tompion.


    I adapted the colour of the lead covers to the artefacts from Thorsminde. The same applies to the fastening holes. This also results in the rear fastening via the ring, as all other types of fastening would slip off.
    The colours of the tompions – natural wood, white, red – are taken from the artefacts and paintings and should, of course, be uniform on the model. The wood-coloured ones were probably the most common, as the tompions were carried as prefabricated spindles in sets of about a dozen and simply sawed off as needed. I doubt that they were painted every time.


    Side discussion:
    Also this involves in my humble opinion the presentation of the tackles. If stowed it is clear that those have to be properly set to hold the gun, plenty of drawings show this. If ran out but gun secured (Touch hole and muzzle protected) those tackles should be secured too but probably not laying on deck. If ran out for "clear for action“ (touchhole and possibly muzzle protected) the tackles should be open, but secured on the carriage, the free ends in a way that it wont become knotted. And just straight before the shot: no muzzle, gunlock or vent hole open and the tackles be held by the crew.

    Is there any place for the nice spirals we like to show, especially with an tackle not made fast? Try this in real life and the guns will run amok at the first wave ...


    To sum the theme up, here are two scale pictures of the barrels shown above  🙂
     
    Enjoy 🙂

    XXXDAn
  12. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from Bob Cleek in Late 19th or Early 20th Century Running Rigging   
    In the early 20th steel was used for some parts of the running rigging that did not need to go around blocks. For those parts chain or hemp was used.
  13. Wow!
    wefalck reacted to Keith Black in Sternwheeler From the Susquehanna River's Hard Coal Navy by Keith Black - 1:120 Scale   
    Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes.
     
     Page #3, post #68 helps to clarify my work in the below photos. 
     
    The wheels are now permanently attached. What tedious work it was trying to replicate the piping used to keep the wheel shaft from moving side to side.
    I used 24 GA annealed wire to imitate the piping.  
     
     

     
     The white thingies on top of the post are both working lights and stern lights. They're supposed to represent bare lightbulbs. Being fresh out of 1:120 scale lightbulbs I had to use belaying pins and paint accordingly. They are not glued in so I can change them out if I can come up with something that better resembles lightbulbs. It may require a trip to the basement and dig through Maggie's tubs of beads. 

     

     

     
     Work can now start moving forward in earnest.
     
     They used a design to try and prevent hogging. It took me looking at the photos another hundred times () to realize what I was seeing. More on this in the next post.
     
     Thank you so much to everyone for your support.
     
       Keith
  14. Like
    wefalck reacted to Keith Black in Sternwheeler From the Susquehanna River's Hard Coal Navy by Keith Black - 1:120 Scale   
    Thank you to everyone for your kind comments and likes. 
     
     What a taffy pull it was getting the wheels built. For as long as it took I should be dancing a jig but alas, that's not the case. 
     
     The wheels are loosely placed as more work in the stern is required before they are glued into place but this little ugly duck now looks the part. 

     
     I poly coated the wheels to represent being wet.

     
     The buckets are 14 inches to scale but could have been a tad bit wider. 

     
     I did a poor job pairing the Amati ships wheels used for the  framework as evidenced by the port side wheels canted bucket. Not all Amati ships wheels are created equal. 
     

     

     
    I'm not staying up until the wee hours of the morning working anymore so the pace it's going to be a little slower going.
     
     Thank you guys for your support by following along and being part of the journey.
     
      Keith
  15. Like
    wefalck reacted to popeye2sea in Late 19th or Early 20th Century Running Rigging   
    Anything that needs hauling by hand will most likely stay hemp. Even if other parts of tackle (pendants, etc.) were chain or wire. For example, in clipper rigs, the sheets for the courses were chain from the sail to just through the quarter block, then wire down to the tackle block, and the blocks were rove with hemp.
     
    Regards,
    Henry
  16. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from Cast Off in Tips for making lines look loaded   
    Well, water is not an organic solvent. I don’t know the composition of Minwax Poly and whether it would dissolve in Acetone. Rather think of nitro-based or good old nail varnish - not the modern acrylic variety.
  17. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from Cast Off in Tips for making lines look loaded   
    I soak the lines in organic solvent-based quick-drying varnish. While the solvent evaporates, I coerce the line into the desired shape. A drop of acetone will reverse the process, if needed.
     
  18. Thanks!
    wefalck got a reaction from GrandpaPhil in Late 19th or Early 20th Century Running Rigging   
    In the early 20th steel was used for some parts of the running rigging that did not need to go around blocks. For those parts chain or hemp was used.
  19. Like
    wefalck reacted to druxey in 18th century slipway revealed   
    The slipway at Bucklers Hard has been archaeologically excavated and an article on BBC News posted:
     
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qll3j0evyo
  20. Like
    wefalck reacted to Lecrenb in St Roch by Lecrenb - 1:48 scale - RCMP Schooner rigged as schooner c. 1930/35   
    Santa arrived a couple of days ago, with assorted cargo for the hold! I was going to leave the hold empty to show the strong ice beams built into St. Roch, but once I decided to add a sailor unloading cargo I knew I had to have some cargo for him to work with! 
    What arrived from Berkshire Valley (a model RR accessory company) was assorted sacks, crates, and barrels, all molded in O gauge, which is 1:48. There was just a bit of flash to clean off, then the parts, like anything coming from a mold, were rinsed thoroughly in warm soapy water to remove the mold release. Here is what they looked like:

    The resin parts after painting...

    And the cast metal sacks... the sailor has been glued to the plank he will be pushing his cargo along, in a sling suspended from the cargo derrick (one day soon!).

    Here is the cargo down the hold. The hatch cover canvas and boards are fixed onto the main deck, and the sailor is posed to push a sling of sacks...

    The details of the hold, and the ice beams, can still be seen. St. Roch shipped 150 tons of cargo for the various RCMP detachments she served, all had to be handled manually. If anyone asks me, she is at the far Eastern end of her supply run, thus almost empty!
    I want to thank all the forum members who gave me thoughts and ideas about the cargo scene!
    Regards,
    Bruce
     
     
  21. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from Old Collingwood in Stuart Beam model steam engine c. 1770s onwards - Rik Thistle - FINISHED - 1:12 (est)   
    Nice ideas !
     
    Looking at the engine, I actually wondered, whether the flywheel wouldn't actually run in a pit, making the engine foundations level with the engine-house floor. At leas this was the arrangement in most of such engines in preservation that I saw.
  22. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from Mark Pearse in Ranger type yacht by Mark Pearse - 1:12 - SMALL   
    Somehow, I had missed this project up to now  🙁
  23. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from thibaultron in Fordson N roadless tractor by RGL - Plus Model - 1/35 - RESIN   
    Something that one doesn't see too often, neither as model nor preserved examples. I gather they were too complicated and expensive to maintain by the average farmer. Rubber or steel tyres (as in early ones) were easier on time and budget.
     
    In Germany, Lanz also made a tracke version of their Bulldog.
     
    Well done - what will you do with it?
  24. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from Ras Ambrioso in Pomeranian Rahschlup 1846 by wefalck – 1/160 scale – single-masted Baltic trading vessel   
    … but we are sinking slowly into technological obsolescence, considering what can be done with 3D-printing already.
  25. Like
    wefalck got a reaction from Ras Ambrioso in Pomeranian Rahschlup 1846 by wefalck – 1/160 scale – single-masted Baltic trading vessel   
    I probably wouldn't buy-in someone elses parts, I was thinking of kitting myself out to do 3D-printing - or at least do the designs myself. On the other hand, as for my laser-cutting, parts usually do not turn out right at first shot. As @dafi knows well, there are usually several runs necessary to get the dimensions right for printing - unlike for substractive machining, where one in most cases ends up with the correct part.
     
    However, I love this late 19th to mid-20th century manual technology of substractive machining and those old machines. In addition, I am already spending a good deal of my wake hours in front of a computer, so manual workshop work is a pleasant diversion.
     
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