bhermann

I received this as a Christmas gift last year and recently decided to give it a shot.  The model comes packaged in a 6"x6" box and works up into a 5 1/2" model stem to stern.
 

 
The materials consist of two steel sheets with all parts attached via sprues.  Construction is of the "insert tab a in slot b" type.  The tabs can be folded over or twisted 90 degrees to lock the parts together.  Steps are laid out in a series of diagrams - no text here.
 

 
Tools used for construction - a wire cutter to cut parts loose (some have three attachment points and I cut one before twisting the parts loose) and a needlenose plier to fold or twist the tabs to lock in place.
 

 
The order of steps is logical and I was able to follow with no deviation.  Here is a shot of the underside that shows several of the tabs twisted and locked in place.
 

 
A few shots of the finished model follow.  The pieces were not dangerously sharp, but I wouldn't recommend this for younger kids.  I was thinking about getting one to build with my 7 year old granddaughter, but I think I'll hold off on that.  I have a paper pirate ship I picked up a few years ago - we may start there.
 



 
A size comparison with my Bluenose in progress
 

 
and the model in it's display location atop my monitor.  We'll see if the cat allows that to continue.
 

 
Overall the model went together well.  The pieces were strong enough to take some flexing, the assembly plan was logical (although a third hand would be useful at some points), and the completed model holds together well.  In short it was just the thing to help me keep my hand in model building, while I continue in my Bluenose doldrums.  It's a fun little project that takes a short amount of time and provides completion satisfaction quickly.  Now I can say I have a completed build!
 
Bob
 

I received this as a Christmas gift last year and recently decided to give it a shot.  The model comes packaged in a 6"x6" box and works up into a 5 1/2" model stem to stern.
 

 
The materials consist of two steel sheets with all parts attached via sprues.  Construction is of the "insert tab a in slot b" type.  The tabs can be folded over or twisted 90 degrees to lock the parts together.  Steps are laid out in a series of diagrams - no text here.
 

 
Tools used for construction - a wire cutter to cut parts loose (some have three attachment points and I cut one before twisting the parts loose) and a needlenose plier to fold or twist the tabs to lock in place.
 

 
The order of steps is logical and I was able to follow with no deviation.  Here is a shot of the underside that shows several of the tabs twisted and locked in place.
 

 
A few shots of the finished model follow.  The pieces were not dangerously sharp, but I wouldn't recommend this for younger kids.  I was thinking about getting one to build with my 7 year old granddaughter, but I think I'll hold off on that.  I have a paper pirate ship I picked up a few years ago - we may start there.
 



 
A size comparison with my Bluenose in progress
 

 
and the model in it's display location atop my monitor.  We'll see if the cat allows that to continue.
 

 
Overall the model went together well.  The pieces were strong enough to take some flexing, the assembly plan was logical (although a third hand would be useful at some points), and the completed model holds together well.  In short it was just the thing to help me keep my hand in model building, while I continue in my Bluenose doldrums.  It's a fun little project that takes a short amount of time and provides completion satisfaction quickly.  Now I can say I have a completed build!
 
Bob
 

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 25 – Hull Planking
 
The next task on the model was the hull planking.  As with the topside planking, it began with the curved strakes around the stern.  In the first picture the planksheer rail has been scraped to its profile, boiled for an hour or so and clamped in position around the stern.
 

 
Screw clamps were used for this piece.  It is not only curved around the stern but also twisted to be horizontal and not tilt downward.  Straight-grained maple was used for all the bottom planking.  Its flecked grain will be hidden by paint and metal sheathing.  You will note in this picture that the topside planking above the planksheer was not yet installed.  This would, of course, be installed before extending the rail forward.
 
In the next picture that rail has been allowed to dry and then glued in place and the next strake has been boiled and clamped for drying. 
 

 
The strake shown above is also highly twisted to conform to the almost horizontal counter at this point. When planks are boiled it is essential that they dry thoroughly and shrink back to normal size.  Premature gluing will result in shrinkage gaps between strakes.  Waiting for these boiled strakes to dry is time consuming, so other work was done in parallel as shown in the next picture.
 

 
In the above picture the planking is proceeding up from the bottom in parallel with the work at the stern counter.  The next picture shows the fourth and final curved stern plank clamped and tacked in placed for drying.
 

 
The thumb tacks and the wedge against the sternpost serve to keep this strake tight against its neighbors.  In the picture the strakes above have been trimmed by sanding - after drying and before gluing to fit up tightly with the previous planks.  They were slightly oversized initially to allow for this final fitting.
 

 
 In the next picture this fourth strake is being glued in.  The hull is wet from washing off excess glue.  The thumbtacks used here have plastic coated heads and are the preferred type.  The plastic helps cushion them and reduces damage to the planks.  The plastic also prevents wood discoloration caused by wetting uncoated metal heads.
 
The next picture – taken at the same time – shows the progress of lower planking.  To keep the plank in fair lines, stealers (dropped strakes) were used as needed.  Some of the process for this will be shown in the next post.  It is thoroughly described in the book.
 

 
The next picture shows straight planking below the planksheer rail being glued down.  The solid soft pine hull allows hammering down of the tacks – making pinning down easy.
 

 
In the next picture a screw clamp is being used to close the gap between strakes.  This can only be done where there is something for the clamp to grip – in this case the top of the side.
 

 
In the next part the remaining planking on this side will be described.
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 24 – Main Deck Structural Work
 
The simplified POB model leaves open spaces in the deck structure that on the framed model is filled with intermediate beams, carlings, headers and ledges.  These provide under-deck support for the various main deck facilities.  Support for these facilities – cabins, hatchways, mast partners and the like – had to be added to the structure of plywood bulkheads before planking the decks.  These supports will be invisible in the finished model, so they are made from simple pine chocks glued to the bulkheads.
 
In the first picture the spacing for the main mast partners are being measured out from the centerline.
 

 
In the next picture pine chocks have been fitted and glued between bulkheads to give lateral support to the mast.
 

 
In the next picture a virtual platform of pine chocks is being glued between bulkheads to support the poop deck facitites – the coach, the two skylights and the helm housing.
 

 
The mizzen mast supports can also be seen in this picture.  In the next picture a thick pine strip is being glued to bulkhead 10 to support the aft head ledge of the main deck cabin.  Clamping is important when installing these to ensure good glue joints.  Aligning the grain of the pine pieces with the bulkheads is also important to avoid weak end-grain joints that will open up later.
 

 
The last picture shows the model with all the necessary supports installed.   To avoid missing any of these, all necessary supports were put on the hull structural drawings.
 

 
With all this crude structure in place, the deck was given a final sanding to fair the lines of the bulkheads and also to make the pine chocks conform to the deck round up.
 
With this necessary but dull work out of the way, I returned to hull planking.
 
 
Ed

Thanks Tim, and those likes too.
 
After a light sanding and clean up, I gave the spar deck planks two coats of wipe on poly. I used a fine piece of plastic "steel" wool between coats with a very light touch. I like this finish a lot, much better than the Tung oil I used on the gun deck. I used it on the coamings, bitts, and gratings too.
 

 
You can see that there is some paint damage to the bulwarks from sanding the deck planks that I need to touch up.
 

 
Before I do that though, I went through the plans and found a few more details to add to the deck first. I used 1/32" strips for the doubler planks around the mizzen mast, as shown on the plans. This was fortunate because I had elongated the mizzen mast hole slightly to get the mizzen mast to sit straight vertically side to side. Although the mast coat would have hidden that, I can now get the hole more rounded. These are the raw planks as glued on last night. They still some sanding and finish. I do have to be careful sanding them, however, because their thickness shows along the edges, not like the other deck planks.
 

 
I am also going to be drilling holes for the scuppers in the deck planks, and fill them with some brass tube painted grey. Then I will clean up the bulwarks paint.

The two arms are threaded on the main shaft. The lower gear arm is then attached firmly using a grub screw.
 
Once this is place the earth/moon system can be added. A spindle is threaded into a small gear wheel and inserted into the earth support arm.
 
Three planets now, and the rotating moon looks the business!

Jan- Willem
 
Thanks for the info on when wire standing rigging came into play for North American fishing schooners.  I agree it comes down to what looks and feels right to the builder.  I suspect our expectations of what looks right may be colored by seeing all those 18th and 19th warships with their heavy shrouds here on MSW and on replicas.  I should pull up the photos I took of L A Dunton at Mystic and compare her shrouds to what the Charles Morgan is carrying on the other side of the yard
 
In the end, Julian should do whatever makes him most comfortable - he is the Captain for this voyage.
 
Bob

So here we go with the next increment of this cross section (which will take a long time to complete). 
 
Gun powder cartridges:
The lowest usable section of this parts of this ship will be the gun powder room, water tanks and other storage areas. Earlier I mentioned the confusion about the powder room in the forward section and how it relied on the various modifications of the ship. The part that struck my fancy was the last revision that made the powder room(s) way down deep below the orlop deck, and a drawing provided by Jonathan is what I will go by.

I have made book shelves in the past, but never this small. I started with some 1/32 inch thick boxwood for the back, shelves and sides. Then I cut some blocks for the spacers and coated them with wax. The following pictures show how I assembled the storage shelves for the gun powder cartridges and two small powder kegs. When assembled, the room will be lined with copper sheets.
 
 

I added extra details this past weekend...
 
I created hull plates from cardboard, drilling small holes in them to simulate bolt holes, glued them to the hull with simple white glue and anchored turnbuckles to them creating some of the standing rigging details of the bowsprit. I used black wire to connect the turnbuckles and I think they turned out quite good but whenever I take close-up pictures, the details don't look quite as good. I blame this on my 51 year old eyes.
 
Sorry, as the last two pictures are a bit dark, and just noticed that after the upload...

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 22 – Topside Works 2
 
In the last part, planking between the main rail and planksheer rail was shown installed.  This planking is straightforward once the strakes around the elliptical stern are in place.  It’s just a matter of continuing these forward to the stem.  Fitting the strakes around the stern is a bit more complex, so I wanted to backtrack to show that work in some detail.  The installation closely parallels the same work on the framed version, but is somewhat simpler because thumbtacks may be used into the solid filler block, whereas on the framed model the curved strakes had to be clamped to the stern timbers.  
 
In the first picture the main rail has been boiled and is clamped around the stern to dry just below the top planking strakes installed in the last post.
 

 
The shape of this molding was scraped before boiling.  When dry, the piece will be used to space the planking strake below.  It will not be permanently fixed until much later after it and the hull have been painted.
 
In the next picture the stern is being given some light final trimming with a rasp before beginning the planking.
 

 
In the next picture the first plank below the main rail has been boiled, bent to shape, pinned in place and allowed to dry.  The main rail shown in this picture is only temporarily fitted as a spacer.
 

 
Because these planks are curved in two planes, it is difficult to get a perfect fit to the plank above without some trimming before final gluing.  This was done as each strake was installed – to get a neat fit with the one above.
 
The next picture shows the third strake below the rail tacked and pinned in place for drying.  The gaps in the joints with the adjacent strake above can be seen.
 

 
In the next picture the second strake is being trimmed with a paring chisel to accept the next plank.
 

 
Both sides of the joint got some slight trimming.  In the next picture the curved third strake is being checked for fit with the one above.
 

 
This strake is being glued in place in the last picture.
 

 
To allow for the trimming and fitting of this planking – and also the final levelling –
 planking strips were slightly oversized to start. 
 
I find this method of fitting these curved and twisted planks less work than spiling.  The two dimensional curving of the planking strips requires significant boiling time (say an hour) and use of an easily bendable wood species – in this case straight-grained hard maple.  I doubt that this degree of shaping could be achieved with kiln-dried Castelo that would be a likely choice for an unpainted model.  This one will be painted.
 
Ed

I finished marking the butt ends and started drilling and filling. Here you can see the steps I use - the raw drilled holes on the right, the holes after I clean them out with an awl in the center, and the filled holes on the left. I use a wood putty for the filling.
 

 
I then scrape the excess putty off with a razor blade, X-Acto chisel or smaller chisel, and end up with this:
 

 
I am about half way done with this step, so more drilling and filling tonight.

Thanks Sal and Steve, and for the likes. This part seems to me that it is taking a while, but it has been enjoyable. I am looking forward to moving on, though.
 
Some progress this week, but first I had a small side project to take care of. Our old kitchen sink faucet let go and dumped a bunch of water under the sink  . It took out the particle board cabinet floor. I had a plumber replace the faucet but I replaced the cabinet floor with some sanded plywood. I got to use the big boy tools so it was fun  !
 
Here is the new faucet, which my wife picked out:
 

 
And here is the new cabinet floor. I just put on a coat of poly so it looks a bit uneven. I have one more coat to go:
 

 
(that flash is sure a harsh light, shows how bad these cabinets are, but that is a job for another day, or the next owner whichever comes first  )
 
Back to ship modeling. I gave the planks a good sanding with medium sand paper to get them all even. I had a few more small cracks that I filled with sawdust filler. Then I marked the plank end butts. I used long planks when I did the planking but I wanted to show them at the appropriate lengths with a three butt shift. I first marked the planks with pencil, using a strip of manila folder to get a straight line. I then indented the planks at the pencil marks with a 1/8" angled chisel. Because it was angled, I could use it on the planks that were less than 1/8" wide. To get an even indent across the planks, I made one indent, then turned the chisel 180 degrees and made another. I still have to make the indents on the stern planks, they are just penciled for now.
 
Planks after sanding but before marking:
 

 
Bow area planks indented:
 

 
This is the chisel I am using for this step. It came in a pack of chisels from Micro Mark (I think):
 

 
We are home this weekend so I should have this step competed tomorrow, then start drilling and filling for the tree nails.

Thanks everyone for all the likes!
Yesterday I finally found some time to assemble the fish hatches. I blackened the brass parts from the last post (sticking to the 0.4 mm brass wire for the ringbolts) already weeks ago. I did not even rinse them at the time but they looked ok so I treated them with some oil to get the satin finish of used parts. Then I assembled the parts carefully, only using miniscule amounts of CA where absolutely necessary. This was basically where I stuck the wire into the holes I drilled. I started out with 0.4 mm holes for the 0.4 mm brass but found out that I needed too much force to stick the wires in and I was afraid to damage (or un-blacken) them.
So I drilled 0.5 mm holes after which I needed some tiny amounts of glue to make sure they stuck. The bars have not been glued down but are held down by the wire loops.
 
Here are the results:
 

The last set of parts contains the gearing for the Earth/Moon system and the Venus arm and planet.
 
I've shown the construction of the Earth gear arm on its own but in reality it is constructed around the large engraved gear. It was just hard to image and show what was being put together.
 
Once this was complete, the gears constructed in my earlier post were slid onto the main support by followed by the large gear wheel and its attached earth gear arm. This was then attached to the support post with a grub screw.
 
Final part was to attach the Venus support arm with a grub screw and insert Venus into the holder.
 
The mechanism is starting to come together now and nicely shows the differences in orbital speed between Mercury and Venus.
 
Before anyone asks; no it doesn't take into account the precession of Mercury's orbit due to relativity...

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 21 – Topside Works 1
 
Because of the fragility of the plywood toptimbers, a slightly difference sequence was followed in constructing the topside bulwarks on POB model vs. that used on the full framed version.  To reinforce these toptimbers and allow them to be faired and sanded smooth on the inside, the top strakes of planking just above the main rail were installed first – beginning at the elliptical stern.  These two upper strakes were installed using one planking strip.  In the first picture a strip has been boiled for bending and is clamped around the stern at the top for drying.
 

 
In the next picture, a final check of the height of the stern at the centerline is being checked against the drawing using the height gauge.  Last chance to make sure the height is correct.
 

 
The decking of the poop was flush with the top of the side planking, allowing the fancy rail to cap the side and deck planking.  In the next picture a gauge strip of deck plank thickness (3 ½”) is being used to check the side planking height as it is glued and pinned in place.
 

 
The top plank was then continued forward to the stem as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The height gauge was used throughout the installation of this upper strake to ensure an accurate line.  The next picture shows some more of the installation of the upper strakes.
 

 
Once the work has proceeded forward of the poop deck and the plywood bulkheads, clamps were used in lieu of the pins as the planks were glued.  In the next picture the upper side strakes are complete and the tops of the timbers are being levelled off at the correct height using a fine rasp.  This could not be done safely without the upper strake in place.
 

 
Before sanding the insides of the toptimbers, outboard planking between the main rail and planksheer rail was installed.  I will cover fitting of this planking around the stern in a later post.  A temporary spacer was used to set the gap that will eventually be filled with the painted main rail.  In the next picture the planking down to the planksheer has been installed and the insides of the toptimbers are being faired with a Softsander® pad fitted with 120-grit paper.
 

 
In the last picture the insides of the toptimbers are being sanded smooth with 220-grit paper.
 

 
At this stage the upper works were quite strong, the toptimbers sanded smooth and ready for the next step – installation of the inboard parts of the main rail.
 
Ed

I think I'll avoid the Pluto flap, although I do have an opinion   I love the finish of Mercury!  I didn't realize this sort of thing was available - I may need to look into one of these too!  Thanks for sharing, Jim.  I will be following along with great interest.
 
Bob

I think I'll avoid the Pluto flap, although I do have an opinion   I love the finish of Mercury!  I didn't realize this sort of thing was available - I may need to look into one of these too!  Thanks for sharing, Jim.  I will be following along with great interest.
 
Bob

I think I'll avoid the Pluto flap, although I do have an opinion   I love the finish of Mercury!  I didn't realize this sort of thing was available - I may need to look into one of these too!  Thanks for sharing, Jim.  I will be following along with great interest.
 
Bob

I think I'll avoid the Pluto flap, although I do have an opinion   I love the finish of Mercury!  I didn't realize this sort of thing was available - I may need to look into one of these too!  Thanks for sharing, Jim.  I will be following along with great interest.
 
Bob

I think I'll avoid the Pluto flap, although I do have an opinion   I love the finish of Mercury!  I didn't realize this sort of thing was available - I may need to look into one of these too!  Thanks for sharing, Jim.  I will be following along with great interest.
 
Bob

thanks all for the kind words......yea,  we could all do without these little problems.......but,  if there weren't any,  it would be a boring hobby     {and I hear you on that Mark!} 
 
now that the smoke cleared....I finally cemented all of the other pre made parts in place.  placement of the ship's boat is next,  along with the chain boards and dead eyes.
 

 

 

 
the mizzen is dry fitted at the moment.
 

 
thanks for the like and for looking in.  I really got to get back on the Titanic.......would be nice to clear that table    it will make fore a great diversion,  while I work on the chain boards.

Thanks Rich.
 
George, thank you too, and here is the real milestone, the last plank is in! 
 

 
Markus, thank you and welcome. I am happy to have you follow along.

Thank you for the likes. We are almost done with the deck planking so hang in there. A couple more along the starboard side bulwarks to add.
 

 
You can see I added a piece of manila folder over the main hatch opening to try to keep the dust out while sanding the spar deck planks.
 
In between planks, I opened up the mast holes. I used a circle template to mark the holes on the deck, then a small round file to get the holes close and a large round file to finish them. I checked the mast rake and alignment of the three masts as I went and adjusted the holes accordingly. I will finish this off with mast coats later when I install the masts. I had added the tenons to these three mast dowels before and made sure they fit in the mast steps. I was worried that I would not be able to get them back into the steps after the deck was planked, but I had marked the tenons with the directions that the dowels should go into the holes, and they went into the steps without a problem.
 

 

 

 

 

 
I have some more initial sanding for the decks then I will mark the rest of the plank end joints and add the drill and fill treenails, like I did for the gun deck planks.

Thanks all. George, I do hope to get to scratch building in the future, but for now I have at least one more kit I want to do. Maybe someday I will do an admiralty model like EdT's or Dan V's, but that will have to wait until after I retire.
 
Some more boring planking progress to show. I filled the port side and ended up with some thin planks along the back edge and transom, and a couple of hook scarfed planks along the sides. Not bad, but I am trying to do better on the starboard side. I am measuring the remaining gaps more often and adjusting the tapers as I go, which so far is yielding much more consistent plank widths. I am still going to have the hooked scarf joints along the sides so they will match port to starboard.
 

 
I continue sanding the planks that are already in place. I filled the gaps along the forward hatch coamings that run athwart ship by first painting on some thinned white glue then mixing in basswood saw dust and pushed this into the gaps. I scraped it with a razor blade and will sand it after it dries. It filled the gaps nicely and I am hoping that after sanding I can still get even staining when I stain the deck later.
 

 
Finally, another view into the gun deck through the main hatch, just for fun. There is some dust getting down there which I am not happy with, but I will take of that after the spar deck planks are sanded. The hatch coamings help to keep dust from falling into the hatch, but I am going to have to carefully blow the dust out later.
 

 
 

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 20 – Knightheads
 
The knightheads reinforced the stem on either side and provided a base for securing the hawse timbers that formed the forward hull back to the first cant frames.  This detail is shown in the posts for the full framed version of the model.  Rising above the top of the sides, the knightheads also provided lateral support to the bowsprit.  To accommodate the 36” square section of the bowsprit, additional space was provided between knightheads by additional members, 10” thick stem timbers, bolted to the sides of the stem assembly.  The two 10” stem timbers astride the 16” thick stem provided the necessary 36” spacing for the bowsprit.
 
On the POB model only the upper parts of the knightheads and stem timbers were modeled.  In the first picture their patterns have been pasted to the correct size stock.
 

 
As with all of the stock for this demonstration model, ¾” wood was used, allowing all the thicknesses to be cut on a good model circular saw.   This was done to allow the model to be made from readily available stock without the need for a thickness sander/planer – a rather expensive tool and not one that beginning scratch builders might have.  In the next picture the members have been cut out and given an initial bevel based on the pattern lines.
 

 
These were cut from hard maple.  The knightheads will be exposed on the model but painted black.  The members to the right are shown in their relative positions.  In the next picture the starboard head timber is being fitted into the space between the stem and the most forward bulkhead.
 

 
To prepare for this, the pine spacers forward of the first bulkhead were removed by sawing and paring with a straight chisel.  These spacers had been installed to protect the forward bulkhead during initial rough fairing of the hull. 
 
In the next picture the breadth across the installed head timbers is being checked for the eventual fit of the bowsprit.
 

 
At 1:96 the breadth needs to be 3/8”.  This precise breadth was obtained by sanding the sides of the members after they were glued in.  In the next picture the port knighthead is being glued into place.
 

 
With both knightheads firmly secured they could be faired into the stem rabbet.  In the next picture a gouge is being used for this.
 

 
With the shape roughed out with the gouge, a curved rasp was used to refine it – as shown below - followed by 120-grit sandpaper.
 

 
With the knightheads in place and faired, the topside planking could begin.
 
Ed