bhermann

She is a beauty and belongs where she is, proudly displayed as the center of attention.  Looking forward to your next journey with America!
 
Bob

The first five photos are the final assembly steps. Atlantics' motor launch and owner's gig aft of the main mast on their davits and her jolly boats the fore of it. The second photo is the anchor tackle and davit. The third, masthead pennants and the  US yachting ensign off the mizzen gaff. The stern and bow decals; the fourth and fifth photo. The final ten shots are of  Atlantic finished, the last two photos in her display case and moored snug in the living room.
               Atlantic was the challenge I needed while sheltered in during the pandemic and proved to be that and more. Even with all the inconsistencies that made me quite aware of my skill level, I couldn't be any prouder to display her as the centerpiece in the main salon. Most of all my acknowledgements to the Admiral for her provision of time, working space, and listening to my frustrations and profanities during the build, her critiques exceeded only by her encouragement, patience and graciousness. Also In the encouragement department my appreciation to Bob G on his supportive comments to my own doubts and the contributions from his build of PenDuick.  Nic of Bluejacket Shipcrafters whose advise and remedial input were indispensable, and everyone else who reacted and commented on Atlantics' build. Finally to modelshipworld which made it possible to acquire new modeling skills through their extensive data base. My next Build will be the schooner America in the same scale as Atlantic starting around late fall. Ciao Everyone!
 

Meet Buster!

Things were delayed on Atlantic with the holiday, out of town family and a new puppy (Buster) around the household. Rope coils have all been made fast upon the belaying pins and flemish hand coils to the deck. One note on making the coils with the polyester line is that every cut and trim required CA glue which slowed the process down. Surprisingly though the 50/50 mix of white glue & water kept every coil from unraveling yet pliable when hanging them from pins. The one problem I had with the hanging coils was tying off the line around the waist and binding the coil loops. I was only able to manage a few and the rest have to hang on the pins in an un-seaman like manner but I can live with this.

First off I have to thank Richard (AKA retiredguy) for his help and guidance in fashioning these bilge pumps. He has been more than generous in answering my question and providing assistance. As long as these took to build, it would have taken much longer and a lot more *#!?**#! without his help.
 
Here is a pic of the pumps that came with the kit.
 

 
And here is the plan drawing of the pumps
 

 
Starting with a 3/8 round brass stock on the lathe I turned it down to .306 inches. Painted the surface with a black marker and scribed the different areas that needed to be fashioned.
 

 
Still on the lathe I made the first cut .081 inches from the face of the piece and turned the stock down to .205 for .148 inches. Then moved .136 inches from the face and turned down to .171 inches for .093 inches. This fashioned the body of the pump. I used a #5 drill bit to create the “bowl” and a #29 drill bit to make the hole for the plunger.
 

 
Then moved to the mill. I used a 3/64 inch end mill to cut the space between the 2 “ears” and then removed the unwanted material to form all 4 “ears”.
 

 
Putting the chuck on a right angle bracket, I used a #76 drill bit to make the holes through the “ears”. This should be the right size for the .6 mm bolts I plan to use.
 

 
This is the piece after turning and milling.
 

 
I used a 5/32 end mill to create a half circle cut for the spout and used .010 thick brass to fashion the spout. I soldered the spout in place and did some filing to shape it.
 

 
So here are the 2 bilge pumps with the spouts. And while they aren’t perfect, I believe they are a big improvement of the white metal ones that came with the kit.
 
 
 
Now I will attempt to build the plungers and linkage, don’t hold your breath for the next update as this may take me awhile.

The pedestals ebonized--
 

 
 
And installed--
 

 
 
Now I can retire my not-so-pretty temporary (10 years or so) stand--
 

 

 

 
 
Ron
 
 
 
 
 

A very brief update. I've completed the poop deck, and added the doubler for the capstan on forecastle. Next up, the coamings for the extension of the after deckhouse and the vents. The deckhouse extension coamings are the only ones that are sitting on the deck, rather than having the decks butt up against them. I didn't want to have to deal with maintaining the camber of the deck given where the coamings would be sitting on the bulkheads, but I think that I could have probably done it in retrospect. Something for the next build I suppose. A couple of pics, and as always, thanks for looking in.
 

George

I decided that the pedestals are indeed too chunky.  So I sanded them a bit thinner, and also reduced the thickness of the cradle arms.  Satisfied with this, I drilled holes for the bolts.  The aft bolt needed to be trimmed about a quarter of an inch.  The front bolt was fine as is--
 

 
 
And located them on the keel--
 

 
 
Tightened them down--
 

 
 
I discovered that unfortunately, I needed to reshape the cradle arms.  Due to various inaccuracies (the bolt not being precisely in the center of the keel, the hole not being drilled precisely in the center of the pedestal, the holes not being drilled precisely plumb, etc.) I needed to readjust the cradle arms, and the flatness of the bottom of the pedestals.  I had to attach and detach the pedestals numerous times, sanding and adjusting them.    If I improved one characteristic, another suffered.   I got to the point where they were much better, though not perfect.  But enough is enough.  Here they are as I will leave them--
 

 
 
The aft pedestal is very good.  The gap between the pedestal and planking on the forward one bothers me (it is better on the port side), but as I said, enough is enough, and I risk having to start over on them.   With the pedestals blackened , that gap will not be as noticeable (I think).  Now I wait for my blackening solution to "ripen".
 
Ron
 
  
 
 
 
 

Some progress made in the past week.
 
While waiting for the chain to arrive from BlueJacket, I started working on the poop, making and painting the coamings for the after deck house and the stores locker.
 

 
However, it occurred to me that I had a way of finishing the forecastle without waiting for the chain and without making it impossible to access the chain stoppers and the like. I had a bit of wire that I purchased from BlueJacket that I used on my Niagara - it is nice and flexible and very fine, fine enough to act as the link in a chain. So I fed a stretch of wire through the hawse pipes from the outside, ran it through the chain stopper and then anchored it on the windlass. I connected the outside end to a block of wood to keep it from getting accidentally sucked up the hawse pipe.
 

 
When I'm ready for the chain, I will disconnect the block of wood, run the fine wire into the chain, close the end off with a tiny drop of CA glue and then pull the chain to where I want it.
 
With this out of the way, I decked the forecastle, and installed the remaining 2 bits (which pass through the deck and terminate on the ceiling planks under planking). The last thing to do there before putting the topgallant rail in place is to cut the sections for the catheads.
 

 
One question to anyone who has completed the Fish. My understanding of the after deck house is that it extends beyond the edge of the poop, but that there are ceiling planks along the edge of poop that closes off the main deck from the beginning of the poop. Which is to say that there needs to be a coaming (or set of coamings) that look like the blue lines in the figure below (or a single coaming that follows the outer edge of the blue below). Is that how you all interpret the plans?
 

 
As always, thanks for looking in!
 
George K
 
 

Continuing with the pedestals--
 
I now cut two new paper templates using my card mock-ups as a guide, folding the paper in half and cutting them out so they were true mirrors.  Using the new paper templates, I then cut some scrap wood templates-
 

 
 
After cutting the keel slots, I could put these on the hull, and refine the cradle arms--
 

 
 
And importantly, check the keel drag--
 

 
 
Using the wood templates, I could support the hull right side up, and check the drag again, and the general look--
 

 
 
I checked for vertical plumbness.   I needed a shim under the port foot, and adjusted both the cradle arms, and sanded the pedestal bottom to correct this.  The clothes pins are just for some additional stability so the hull doesn't topple forward or aft--
 

 
 
Once satisfied with the scrap wood templates, I used these to cut out the final pedestals.   In adjusting the drag, and the vertical plumbness, the bottoms of the scrap wood no longer were exact matches to each other, and I tried to account for this in cutting out the final pedestals.  It may not be obvious, but looking at the scrap templates you can see the difference in the cradle arms to account for the port side of the hull being unplanked (the right side as we are looking at the templates)--
 

 
 
Any remaining differences I could easily sand away after clamping them together--
 

 
 
After sawing, chiseling, and filing the keel slots, I could then I set the hull on the pedestals, and refine the cradle arms--
 

 
 
Check the drag again--
 

 
 
These are now getting close to the final shape--
 

 
 
Some fine tuning of the cradle arms is still needed, and the pedestals themselves look just a bit chunky to me--not sure whether it's the sided thickness of the pedestals, or the thickness (molded dimension) of the cradle arms.   I will live with them for a while before making any changes, as I don't want to take too much off now and regret it.   Once I'm satisfied, or after another round of adjustments, I'll drill the holes for the mounting bolts, and ebonize the pedestals.
 
Ron 

As I was doing a cleaning and organizing of my workbench in preparation for the next phase.  I discovered the keel pedestal bolts and NUTS (which had been filed thinner to fit within the width of the keel).  I thought I had epoxied the nuts into the keel years ago!    
 
I felt underneath, and the holes were there, but no nuts.
 
Getting near the point of no return for being able to turn the hull upside down, it was clear this needed to be done now.
 
So--
 

 
 
Here are the bolts and their nuts--
 

 
 
I epoxied the nuts in place, taking care to keep epoxy out of the threads.   The bolts are in place, because the holes drilled into the frames and keelson keep the bolts (so also the nuts) in the proper alignment--
 

 

 
 
Since I have the hull upside down, this is also the perfect time to finally make a decision, and start making the base pedestals.  I've been undecided on this for the entire build!    What finally swung my decision was the worry for lateral stability, especially as the bolts are only in the false keel (though the screws do go deeper).   I've opted for some shaped cradle pieces, and started making templates for those--
 
 
 

 
 
These are VERY rough.  The fore pedestal needs to be just a bit taller (but not this much!) than the aft, due to the keel drag.   Many snips and iterations followed, sometimes lengthening the cradle 'arms', sometimes shortening them, adjusting the base curve, and making the two pedestals more consistent--
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
I ended up here, for now--
 

 

 
 
These will be made out of pear, probably about 3/8" wide, and ebonized-- 
 

 
 
Still a good deal of fine tuning to do, but I think these will do to start.
 
Ron
 
 
 
 
 

Attached torpedo tubes , training gear, TP Tube locks, and tube wiring plugs

Okay. Initial work on the forecastle. First, the painted cleaned up windlass and the chain stopper (unpainted in the photo)
 
I copied and cut out a template to locate the furniture

 
I then mounted a stained end beam (with two small cutouts for where the knees are going to go, mounted the windlass and the chain stoppers. I didn't put in the troughs - it was getting mighty tight in there and they will be practically invisible (true of the chain stoppers pretty much as well, but it was good practice and will help thread the anchor chain cleanly. Next, I mounted the windlass bitt. As you can see in the photo, I mounted a small piece of wood to the forward side to give the deck planks something to mount on.

 
I then put a continuous strake on both sides of the forecastle deck and then start planking. I did the deck planking slightly differently than the planking on the main deck. The windlass bitt is four planks wide, and so I glued together a section of four planks, which I put trimmed to fit to the bow between the knightheads. Once they were installed I could install the two inboard bitts whose location I had marked earlier. That is the stopping point for the forecastle until the new anchor chain comes in from BlueJacket. Once I have that, I can run the chain through the hawse pipes, chain stoppers and then store the excess under the deck until I'm ready for the anchors. I just don't want to make the interior end of the hawse pipes and the chain stoppers any more inaccessible than they already are until I've run the chain.

 
So, next steps will be to lay out the coamings on the poop and plank it's deck.
 
Thanks for looking in!
 
George K
 

The Flying Fish plans were drawn by Ben Lankford, who also did the Niagara and Pride of Baltimore II. All three sets of plans are magnificent. The Fish plans in particular are less model plans and more like simplified builders plans. They don't show the model bulkheads, but rather the frames, and the detail views show the actual ship timbers, etc.
 
The MSW kits (which I really like) feel "semi-scratch" to me, having you scratch build a variety of the things that go onto the decks and aloft. Having to fabricate all of those things yourself gives you more feeling of accomplishment, at least in my mind. I agree with you that they feel like they give you the skills needed to build something from scratch. We will see if that is true - I just received plans from the NMM Greenwich for the RRS Discovery, so as I'm building the Fish, I'm going to be turning those into plans for a POB model.
 
The one area that the MSW kits are deficient  (in agreement with @mbp521 , aka Brian) is the Brittania fittings that they supply. The Fish has a lot more of them than either of the other two I've done, and that they are the worst I've seen in an MSW kit. I've replaced the Brittania anchor stocks with wood and brass versions before, so no problem there. The windlass wasn't too bad except for the flash, but the capstans are a mess, the cleats require a lot of cleanup, etc., etc. I thought about scratch building a windlass like @Keithbrad80 but the only model appropriate power tools I have available are a dremel and drill. Nevertheless, it may be possible to build a better capstan (or get the Brittania 1:96 ones from BlueJacket. The Niagara (at 1:64) had a capstan kit, which I may be able to shrink down to 1:96. We'll see.

Thanks, Dan.  Great.  Now I have to carve Ens. Cooper.
 
 Backstay deadeyes and chains are installed.  They were much easier than the shroud chains--only one bolt to locate and drill--
 

 

 
 
The chains will get some tweaking at some point to make them to present a bit straighter, but I'm very happy to have this behind me.   So, to celebrate, a few overalls of Oneida--
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Next up, installing the carronades.   For which I need to strop many small blocks.
 
Ron
 

Lieutenant Woolsey continues to supervise the building of Oneida.
 
The missing breech bolt ends have been blackened, and installed with the rest--
 

 
 
The brass wire pieces for the backstay chains have been  cut, bent, assembled, soldered, bent some more, and blackened (in that order!).  Then the deadeyes were bent into their loops, and some general remedial bending done to some links that were still too far out of whack--
 

 
 
These will be installed next.
 
Ron 

I started the samson post assembly by first fashioning the main post and the support for the brake beam. Cut the bottom of the post to fit the deck angle and added a small wire pin to help secure it to the deck
 

 
Completed the rest of the assembly using some laser cut parts that came with the kit and some scratch built parts.
 

 
Mounted the finished assembly on a scrap piece of wood, using the pin in the base of the main post and some double stick tape for the smaller posts. After taping off a spot to mount the brake beam I air brushed the piece.
 

 
Added the brake beam and pawl and glued the assembly in place. Added the windlass, counter shaft and jumbo jib boom crutch. Still have to attach the 2 ends of the brake beam to the 2 ratchet quadrants. Not sure if I will use wire or thread coated with clear matt nail polish.
 

 
That completes 99% of the deck furniture. You may notice that there are some gear assemblies near the jumbo jib boom crutch missing as well as an engine box and linkage. But I’m building the racing version and the plans state these items were removed from the deck when racing, probably to reduce weight (especially forward weight) and to lessen the chances of fouling lines during head sail changes / tacking.
 

 

 

 

 
Now it’s on to attempt making my own bilge pumps and another boom sheet buffer.

About finished with the cockpit area,
the windshield, a real pain, metal, plastic, drilling hole for pins, paint & canopy glue do not want to work well toughter, without looking like a 5-year-old tossed it all toughter.  after 4 attempts I was at the end of my rope, but it was almost there, when Murphy showed up, a very slight slip of the hand & I took a chunk out of the std screen. Not wanting to start over for shot # 5 I turned the error into battle damage, which I have not shown clearly in the pics as it still needs a bit of work. The windshield weathering became easy after that. Installed the control panel and added the fluorescent light, compass, and torpedo director, them weathered the entire area. Again, there are many different ways to approach this build, all have there own merits, my vision here is to depict a boat that has seen action and exposure to the tropical elements of the pacific.  

And the almost finish product looks like this …

Hello everyone,
 
Well, my new home is finally finished. It took about a month longer than expected. For the most part, I have gotten my new shop set up. 
 
It's time to get back to work on the Benjamin Latham again. I am doing a little review of the instructions and what I have done so far. I've made the big start. 
Bill
 

Here is the work to make up my lost breech bolt ends.
 
A strip of cut brass sheet, a bit of wire--drill holes in the sheet and insert the wire--
 

 
 
Solder the wire in place, then trim them and cut apart.   I made the mistake of placing the wires too close to each other.  I ended up only getting half of these, fortunately I didn't need all of them.  I think I might even have one or two extra now--
 

 
 
I wasn't as far along as I remembered on the backstay deadeyes and chains.  I just have the deadeye loops.  So I need to make up a bunch more loops and string up 12 'units'--
 

 
 
Good news is that the shroud dead-eyes and chains are all attached!
 

 
 
Ron
 

Continuing with the chains,
 
I improved my procedure a bit.  Thread is better for temporarily holding the deadeyes in their channel slots--
 

 
 
This is more secure, easier to arrange, and allows better visibility for checking and gluing the molding--
 

 

 
 
I have only made enough of these clamps to do one channel at a time, so I'm working my way around the ship.  You can see in the next photo that I am also getting ready (pin holes drilled) to glue the boarding steps on the port side.
 
You will also see that I have not glued the carronade breech rope through-bolt locations on the port side, as I did recently with the starboard side.  Having made up the pieces many years ago and stored them away, I have now somehow lost a few, and don't have enough to complete the port side.  I will have to make up some more.   My backstay chains have to be blackened (that's one reason they are not getting attached now, with the shroud chains), so I will blacken the new breech rope bolt ends with them, and that will be next.  --
 

 
 
Looking at the starboard side, here are four phases of the channel/chainplate fixing, and you can see those breech rope bolt ends I mentioned, one at each lower corner of the gunports--
 

 
 
Ron
 
 
 

Bradley
 
I have enjoyed reading through your log to date and will be following along when you are able to get back to her.  This is some really fine and well thought out work you have been doing!
 
Bob

Bradley
 
I have enjoyed reading through your log to date and will be following along when you are able to get back to her.  This is some really fine and well thought out work you have been doing!
 
Bob

I used Minwax pre-stain for the dowels.  I had a Minwax stain picked out for the color so using the same brand for the pre-stain made sense to me.  I have been using Minwax stains for projects around the house for many years.
 
I heard about pre-stain on this forum, I had never used it before for anything, it did a nice job!
 
Bob