bhermann

Hi all,
 
Here's a small "tutorial" on how I make the rather tricky Clue (aka Clew) Blocks. The ones here are scale 9" blocks and are just 4.5mm long in 1:48 scale. I'm also making 8" and 6" blocks using the same techniques.
 
I start by cutting the stock for as many as I need from English Box. I find this the best wood to use for these as it has no grain and is very dense, important features on something this small that requires a number of holes.
 
Next I set the 0.020" kerf blade on the table saw to cut a shallow groove for the sheaves.
 
Then I drill the sheave holes using my mill - saves a lot of time and ensures accuracy, but it can be done using a Dremel or Pin Vise. Here's a pic up to this stage :
 

 
Back to the table saw again, and I cut the various steps required :
 

 

 
Using a very narrow chisel made from an Xacto blade I clean up the holes and round off the shoulders of the "sheaves". This not only improves the look of them but makes the line pass through them more realistically. The two blocks on the right in this pic have been shaped :
 

 
Next I drill the two holes for the strop through the head of the block using a Pin Vise :
 

 
A sanding stick fitted with 240 grit paper is used to shape the head of the block in both planes, and I cut the **** of the block with a sharp Xacto. The sides of the block are rounded with a small flat needle file :
 

 

 
Once detached from the stock I tidy the rest of the block up with the sanding stick, and also cut a notch for the strop (that stops it from slipping off the block later on). Here's the finished article, the coin measures about 19mm in diameter :
 

 

 
I use most of the above techniques for making all my blocks, the only real variation to these is the shaping of the head of the block and the drilling of the two strop holes. On normal blocks I use the table saw to cut a 2nd shallow groove in the stock for the strop.
 
 Danny

Thanks George, Dan, and Jay, and thanks for all the likes, guys.
 
Dan - I am an old guy too, so we old guys need to keep inspiring each other. I hope you get to start your Conny soon and I will enjoy following along.
 
Jay - Thanks. I wanted something a bit different and when I saw how the bulkheads were shaped, I figured I could pull this off. Also, since ME sells the extra guns. I think others in the past have modelled the gun deck too. You are doing a great job on the cross section and the research especially is very useful. Your full model is pretty terrific too. As for the stove placement, here is what I have. The part of the gun deck I modelled includes only the back of the stove, but you can see where it is in relation to the riding bitts aft of the fore mast on the gun deck and the fore mast location. I think maybe I moved the bitts a bit further back to make room between it and the stove, but to me it looks workable.
 

 

 
And here is what I worked on last night, cutting planks to fit around the forward coamings. These are just dry fit, but they are the right size planking now. The fore mast hole is too wide, so I have to replace the four outer cut planks with two full planks.
 

 
 

The relocation of the oven and riding bits has caused some major changes in the rest of this model. Some for the better, as it turns out.
The extended hatches on the gun and berth deck now will have stairs so that it will be possible to go from the top (spar) deck down to the orlop deck and hold. 
The picture below shows the large hatch on top (along with the hatch for the stove pipe) then there is the gun deck hatch with still a high cowling because of the wet deck, and then the berth deck with a lower cowling. Counting the two hatches in the orlop deck that go down into the magazine (covered with the solid board and hole), this thing will have six hatches.
I still have to make the three long gratings that are missing below. The filler piece and hatch for the orlop deck are still loose and I have to add more planking towards the bow, but I am holding off until I get a better fix on the light and powder rooms. I should add that there will be walls along the port side indicating the 'carpenter's walk' and the storage room. The height has to be determined during assembly, just like those in the magazine/powder room. But I do have a door waiting for that.
 
The alignment of the hatches on the gun and berth deck will be critical because of the stairs, but I have an idea how to help that situation and will show that later.

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 9 – Support for the inverted hull  
 
The hull of the model is very strong and solid – except for the fragile plywood toptimbers.  Since there is a lot of work to do with the hull inverted, some form of robust support was needed - to support the hull for heavy work like fairing, but at the same time to keep the toptimbers protected. A heavy wooden block that could be securely fastened in a vice was made and attached to the hull for this purpose.  It is shown screwed down to the “deck beams” in the first picture.
 

 
To secure the block to the hull a pair supporting spacers were fitted and glued between bulkheads – away from later facilities.  These are shown glued and clamped in the next picture.  Four long wood screws were used to fasten the block to these supports.
 

 
The wood block was rabbeted along the sides as shown below to keep the toptimbers clear of the vise jaws.
 

 
Two strips of wood were used to keep the block from rocking on the round up of the deck.  The next picture shows the hull securely clamped in a bench level woodworking vise ready for the next steps.
 

 
Removal of the excess spine was the first of these steps.  In the next picture a coping saw is being used to cut just outside of the bearding line previously marked on the forward part of the hull.
 

 
The spine aft of the post was also removed by cutting on a line marked from a stern template.  Both these cuts are rough at this stage.
 
After this work the hull was ready for fairing – to be covered in the next parts.
 
 
Ed
 

These are the tools in use. Not many. 3 tweezers have done most of the work. There is a paint brush handle with a needle in it. This is for undoing knot goof ups. For cutting off loose ends you can see the bamboo stick with a broken off safety razor half. Very sharp.
 
Bruce

Hi Druxey,  Thank you.
 
These pics show the ratlines in place.  Up from the rail a bit are the fairleads. They are made by cutting tiny brass tube pieces that have had a groove turned into them so that they can be tied on. They must be check for the fit of the lines that travel through them first. They are so tiny that a dab of glue on them stuck them in place, after drying they were tied on. On the topmast and topgallant shrouds the shrouds get too close together and the ratlines are carried over onto the backstays. I found this fact in the Underhill book about masting and rigging.
 
You can see that not all of the ratlines go across all of the shrouds, but only the 5th is carried over all of them.
 
On the top and topgallant masts you can see the practice of using bullseyes instead of deadeyes. The plans show this as well as many old photos. It was probably easier to take up the slack under way? 
 
If you look at earlier photos of the lower mast tops you can see the extra bracing McKay used for extra strength between the top and cap on the lower mast doubling. Also you can see his practice of using a 3rd topmast backstay carried before the last shroud. [it sure makes the ratlines there a problem.] I'm sure it helped down on the Australia run in the storms. Also the 11 1/2 inch shrouds, stays, and backstays up to the topgallant level would give a lot of extra strength for hard driving. The extremely long sharp hollow entrance was probably for storm performance also. I think she had the sharpest entrance of all the clippers. It's no wonder his ships held so many records for speed and 400 plus miles per 24 hours. The immigrants must of had quite a ride. 3rd class down below must have been quite an experience. I wonder if they had access to the ship surgeon too. Did they get to hear the band or get the ship newspaper Lightning Times? The very long list of captain's rules sure applied.
 
Bruce

Tom -
 
If you plan on going soon, you may want to wait until after August, but before October.  Salem tends to wind up a lot for the summer and around Halloween.  I haven't been to the PEM in years, but it is certainly worth the trip.
 
BTW, what you are doing here is making me think I may have to actually build a warship at some point in the future - I love the attention to detail you are putting into her!
 
Bob

Hi guys,
 
It's good to be back. I've finished the work that I need to bring in the bucks, now it's fun time.
 
I'm doing the ratlines now. I'll never forget how to do a clove hitch, there are well over 1000 of them. As I began I found that my tweezers were opening too far at times and stretching the ratlines above and below. By limiting them with tape I solved this. I forget the dia. right now, but I think the thread is about .015.
 
As I had finished this side I could finally put on the davits and hang the boats. The griping straps are of paper strengthened with acrylic gesso.
 
I found that very few tools have been needed. I'll show the later. I've been up all night so i'll get back to you this evening.
 
It's so good to be back, I've missed you all. I see Dan wrote. Hi buddy.
 
Bruce

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 8 – Bow
 
As with the stern, the bow required some solid support forward of the last bulkhead. The first picture shows the bow before the last bulkhead at frame g had been set.
 

 
The line of the stem was first roughly drawn on the hull using a template as shown below.
 

 
This template was used on both sides by marking one of its frame lines on the opposite side.  The line is rough at this stage – slightly on the full side.  This will later be adjusted and the stem/keel assembly fit over this.  In the next picture the forward spacer is being shaved back below the bearding line.
 

 
This allows the template to be more accurately placed flat on the deadwood for more accurate marking.  The extreme bevel of this last spacer can be seen in the next picture, taken after setting bulkhead g.  There is a lot of wood to remove from these forward spacers.
 

 
In the next picture a small pine block is being fitted between bulkhead g and the spine with its lower face on the bearding line..
 

 
The breadth of the hull at the bearding line is the breadth of the deadwood – 16” on this ship.  The spine is larger than this at ¼” = 24”.  This leaves some allowance for final fairing.
 
These forward pieces are temporary, to be removed and replaced later with the knightheads and stem pieces.  Their purpose at this stage is to protect the plywood of bulkhead g from being damaged when the forward hull is fared.
 
 
Ed

Thanks for the heads up Bob. One of the reasons I haven't gone yet is that Salem is one of those places that is a b***h to get in and out of, any time of year. But you are right about the summer and October. Early Fall might just work fine.

Tom -
 
If you plan on going soon, you may want to wait until after August, but before October.  Salem tends to wind up a lot for the summer and around Halloween.  I haven't been to the PEM in years, but it is certainly worth the trip.
 
BTW, what you are doing here is making me think I may have to actually build a warship at some point in the future - I love the attention to detail you are putting into her!
 
Bob

Tom -
 
If you plan on going soon, you may want to wait until after August, but before October.  Salem tends to wind up a lot for the summer and around Halloween.  I haven't been to the PEM in years, but it is certainly worth the trip.
 
BTW, what you are doing here is making me think I may have to actually build a warship at some point in the future - I love the attention to detail you are putting into her!
 
Bob

Thanks Tim, Dan, George, and Jay, and the likes.
 
Jay, the plans I am using show the rail in relation to the main mast, so I can locate it from that. Of course, if the main mast location has moved since 1812 it won't be exactly right.
 

 
One more shot of the rail after some more work. I sanded the two lower rails so they are thinner now and match better. I also sanded down the tops of the posts so they are almost flush with the top rail. I didn't want to break anything so I stopped sanding when I got close. I also installed the sheaves between the two bottom rails. I used a strip of wood that I ran through the table saw on both sides to make a groove, then cut off squares and used a thin file to continue the groove around to the other two sides, to simulate a round piece between two square pieces. This picture is actually a little too close to see them clearly. I don't think I'll be running any lines through these as they are kind of fragile and the holes are pretty small.
 

 
I can now stain the fore and main pin rails, mount what I can and get ready to plank the spar deck. There is a support for the spencer mast at the mizzen that I need to make too. I can leave the spider rail for the mizzen until I make that mast since it does not attach to the deck.

Thanks Mark and Marc.
 
There is an interesting thing I was thinking of. If you succeeded in something miniature, on some way, to me it seems that, success in some way pin you down to keep that line of detailing. It does not matter that you need a magnifier to see something. I thing that "invisible" details gives something special in whole picture on the similar way as high range of frequencies gives special feeling to music you listen 
 
Usual Saturday ... garden work at morning and after lunch fight with Yuka, and after that, nice time in shipyard at the evening
 
First decided to finish right cat-head with whisker boom  - complete done. I decided to put on it all possible shackle I am able to make, so, I started to play with beats ( brass wire 0,5 mm in 0,5 mm holes cemented with CA and covered with black acrylic

First - whisker. Two angles ( to up and to the back) are presented, and I tried to follow angles on C-plans
 
Temporary in place
 

 
And a details of connection.
 

 
Then .... uh how small are this ... very hard to control them ... making 
Dry testing
 

 
It can not pass through the hole I made, so it have to be mounted later
 
And then I decided to try one nice detail, which is, I suppose, necessary for proper rigging of bowsprit ( on C-plans called "Eyebair for Fore Tuck")
 

 
Little improvisation ( wire goes through sheave) and here we are. here are cleat, pins on both side of cat-head, and "cat-stopper" (?)
 
Uh, oh, ah, it seems I forgot to extend "cat-stopper" through bullwark to the outside on the fore surface of cat ... something to do next time, but it will be difficult, considering everything is cemented
 

 
Ok, cathead is cemented on place, and there is time to put beats/beasts on their place. There is something in C-plans called "Iron horn", but there simply has no place for it, considering whiskers are a bit over-scale thick
 

 
Hmmm ... little overscaled, but I can live with this
 
And after painting
 

 
And whole look of cat head with mounted whiskers boom
 

 
 
 
Edit: previewing post I noticed that I mixed pictures and text, but, i think you get a point. One of this days I ll edit this post properly. To late now 

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

Hi All,
 
As a compliment to a low table (reusing my captain's old play table)  I am also reusing my astronomy observing chair as my build chair.  I've copied the photo and some text from my Dragon log from a few weeks ago below to save you clicking through. I just checked the link and it still works.
 
"It is infinitely adjustable for height as the seat grips the back rails using a plastic friction bar. Needs a foot rest at the highest settings  (~36in so at least I do!) but again will work well for rigging w/o bending over or standing up for ever. I’ve not seen anyone mention these chairs before so figured I’d post in case it interests someone. They aren’t cheap, but I find mine sturdy and comfortable. Link below for those not into astronomy. Not done any checks for price so look around before you take the plunge if you like it."
  https://www.astronom...hairs_c457.aspx   Hope this perhaps helps.   Cheers,   Nigel.      

yea.......sorry Sam........I really don't want it to glow like a ghost ship......    but that would really send out an eerie message now,  wouldn't it 
 
the fascia problem is solved.......I just hope those parts I used were truly extra pieces.   I finally cemented the first pair of cranes in place.......glued in the fascia in place as well.
 

 

 
then all of the life boat cradles were painted white,  on the boat deck.   later I'll go back and touch them up.
 

 
the stern section got the mizzen mast rigging glued in ahead of time
 

 
I started to work on the boat deck structures at this point.  still need to cement in the rigging for the funnels,  and then the A deck and boat deck can be cemented together.  duct work was painted flat white..........the grating grids were then dry brushed with the paint I mixed for the hull........just to soot things up a bit.
 

 
these four ducts are located at the first and second funnel
 

 
finally I got back to the bow section,  and cemented in the fore castle railing
 

 

 
so now it's the boat deck....there's a lot to do here 
 
 

Some of the pictures below have the pins and some of the eyebolts that were originally painted (with great pain I may add) that do require a bit of touchup... but the majority of eyebolts have been blackened and look dramatically better!

I have the sponsons roughed in, and am now ready for a lot of sanding and filling, and sanding a filling

I put the mock up together. It really has helped me get a feeling for how the ship will look, and the work ahead. I'll now get back to finishing the hull, and work on some of the sub assembles 
 
 

It's been a while since I've been able to get to the museum, so no work has been done on the Pritt for a few weeks.  In spite of the museum being top heavy with kids yesterday because of the school holidays, I still managed to get quite a bit done.  The deck has now been completely treenailed and rough sanded down.  Next step will be to make the capping rail, then bring her home for a couple of coats of clear finish before starting on the detail work.
 
John
 
The fore end rough sanded
 


 
Looking a bit more civilised


 
 

I use them on fabric (sails, hammocks, etc). The advantage is that you cut the material while it is lying flat on the cutting board and you can see where the blade is going.
I have also used it to cut veneer. It is just like quilting.

One challenge that I have been working on is the mast hoops for this model. At 1/48 scale, I have been trying to come up with a way to make them small enough to blend into the scale of the model. I need 22 hoops, 11 for both mainsail and foresail.
 
Here is what I came up with. Brass wire is soldered into a loop and the piece cut off with a tail. The piece is then fitted over a dowel that acts as a jig to make sure that the hoop is circular and that it can be filed up with no problem. Once the tail is cut off, the hoop is filed to remove the evidence of the joint and then it is filed all around the outside to make that side somewhat more flat.
 
The last thing will be to chemically tone them with Bluejacket's Brass Brown. Once sewed to the boltrope and in place on the mast, they should look enough like wood at this scale.
 
Russ

I finished up the hatch coamings, giving them a second coat of oak stain, which evened the color out some more. Here is how they came out, along with the kit supplied smoke stack.
 

 
I then test fit them to the supports I added previously. I have to make the supports for the rear one a little closer together as  it is balanced right on the edge.
 

 

 
Next up was the fore mast pin rail. I am using the kit supplied rail which has a lot of holes in it for belaying pins. I am not going to fill all the holes with pins, though. I thought that I would end up making my own rail, as this one looked kind of flimsy, but it stayed together through all the sanding and handling, so it gets to be used. I made the five supports for the rail on the lathe, using square stock which I rounded in the center. I then used the drill press to drill the holes for the simulated sheaves. I could only get two sets of sheaves on each support instead of the three shown on the plans, but at least there is something there.
 

 

 
To attach the rail to the supports, I wanted some sort of mechanical connection because the last thing I want to have happen is for the rail to come loose during rigging. I thought of pins but then saw these nails with a nice small head, so I experimented with drilling holes through the rail and into the support for the rails. You can see the pieces I experimented with in the top of the last picture. This looked pretty sturdy even without any glue, but my method was to drill the five holes in the rail, making sure they were centered in each area of the rail, then drill holes in the tops of the supports, but not for the full length of the nail. I then put wood glue on the top of the supports and CA on the nail shafts and placed them together, then gently tapped the nails home with a small hammer. I am hoping to be able to cover the nail heads with rope coils, or at least a little brown paint to blend them in. But the important part is that the rail is very well connected now to the supports.
 
I had previously made the bitts for the fore rail when I made them for the main rail, but they did not work out for the fore rail, as the sheaves were right where the fore rail attaches to them. So, I made two more using the plans from the kit, with a single sheave in the middle. Here they are dry fit with the rail. I used wire in the bottom of these through holes in the support around the mast to hold them in place. These will be planked around when I do the planking, but the rail supports will sit on the planking. I did add wire to the two outer supports and the middle support to help attach these to the deck when I get to that point.
 

 
I then made an attempt at the snatch blocks on either side of the bitts. These are a bit too thick, I think, so I will try thinning them down in place after the glue dries or rebuild these thinner.
 

 
No work in the workshop over the holiday weekend, but I will be back at it next week.
 
 

Hi Ed,
I've noticed the changes in photos. In MacGregor's Book  there are some good photos. YA is there changed to the closer mast doublings done by putting a sort of dogleg to clear the shrouds, and iron mast caps. I don't remember if she had been switched to bullseyes for upper shrouds or not.  I have 3 different plans of 3 different ships done by Crothers and the differences are interesting.
 
I found it at only one small RR business They are the only place I found it in 10 foot bulk packs, everyone sells it by the foot. I'll look up their name and post it later or e mail it you. I found that for Lifghtning I needed more than 9 feet.
 
Enlarge the case...it really brings home the size of these ships doesn't it. I read somewhere that one could build two 74 gun ships with the timber it took to build some of the big clippers.
 
Shop foreman shown below.   winking.