bhermann

I have never painted one of my builds before.  I was daunted to say the least.  I put this off for a long time because I wasn't sure exactly what to do or how to do it.  I saw Sawdust Dave's Mayflower builds on here and he did such an amazing job that when I look at these photos I still cringe a little.  

Adding the exterior mahogany strips.  You can see how I used the blue tape to place each plank in place.  In the end it all looked better than ships I have built in the past where I didn't really know what I was doing with the planking.  

Next up is mapping out and planking the lower hull.  I cut a paper strip for each bulkhead and was pleasantly surprised that the strips for the starboard side also fit the port side.  What I didn’t like was the way the width of the planks dipped slightly between bulkheads ‘H’ and ‘M’.  I looked at the hull and did some more sanding thinking that perhaps the fairing was off.  But that yielded no change.  Likewise, there was no change after I redid the hull stern where it met the counter.  My only conclusion is that I probably was off when I located the wales.  I don’t see how I can redo that at this time, so I will plod ahead and hope for the best.  The photos show each bulkhead marked with the width of the 21 eighth inch strakes and the belts I marked with artists tape.  The bottom of the tape is the top if each belt.



 

Thanks to George and Steve for the encouragement, and the likes. They all mean a lot.
 
I finished building all the remaining hatch coamings for the spar deck, using the supplied gratings. There is a good side to those gratings where the holes are nice and square, whereas the other side is not so good. Of course, the first few grates I installed I put in the wrong way and had to replace them later. Luckily I had a lot of grating material to work with since I did not use it for the main hatch.
 

 
And here they are after the first coat of oak stain. I was going to use some Pre-Stain on them before I stained them but my Pre-Stain had about 1/4 inch of what looked like foam rubber on top of it, so I didn't want to risk using it. They did come out a bit blotchy so I am hoping a second coat will help, maybe with some sanding before.
 

 
One of those coamings includes the platform for the galley smoke stack. I cleaned up the supplied metal stack with some files and sand paper. I was not sure if it would come out well because the metal had some pitting on it, but after priming and a first coat of weathered black paint, I am liking it.
 

 
Finally for today, I wanted to show off my new favorite sanding tool. I found this in a hardware store in New Hampshire. it has hook and loop on the block and the paper and comes with three grades of paper, so I can change paper instantly.
 

 
The true sander also was used quite a bit in making the coamings, especially to keep the edges of the grates and other wood filler pieces square.
 
 
 

Chief Don the submarine guy here!
 
 Subs I use to make a living, however my passion is the age of sail.  Here is a method to make sails for the new folks, for the builders of small stuff, or if you wanna add something special to your sails such as a color logo or symbol (Part 2).
 
Plastic builders, scratch builders or wood kit builders the sails are often not to scale, horribly made, or are plastic.
 
I build my own PCB circuits to make my Lighthouses in the bottle flash, the cannons on my ships go boom, and such. One of the materials I use to transfer the circuit layout to copper clad board is called Press N Peel.  You can get this on E-bay for right around $12.  Trust me that will last you a long time.
 
You will need a laser printer or copier and a PC program such as PAINT. You will need sail cloth (Duh!), Blue tape, a Wood burner or soldering iron with a transfer nib.  You can use a clothing iron in a pinch.  You are also going to need a flat board.
 
You can use a PC program to make your sail panel lines, reef lines and what ever else you need. You could also hand draw your sail and then scan it to your computer.
 
When you have your design as you like you will print it on the blue Press N Peel. BE SURE you print on the dull side.
 
Laser printers use toner, toner is little more than powered plastic. As the powder goes over the paper a laser melts the plastic and fuses it to the paper in the shape of the letters and pictures we type in. (Lot more to it than that but you get the drift.)
 
Note the border around the image. This is used to place and align the image over the sail cloth. Also when you trim the Image leave and side about 1/2 inch longer than the rest.
 
Use Blue Painter's Tape (This is a must use. Other tapes have adhesives that melt under heat and will make your life not so much fun.) and stretch and tape the sail cloth to the wood. Don't go nuts just a little stretch.
 
Now place the image dull side down over the sail cloth. Again with the blue tape, tape along the border printed on the image.  If the image moves while you transfer it will be a big smear.
 
Okay now this is the art vs science part. I use a wood burning too that has this transfer button. You can get the anywhere for about $30. They come with many nibs that might come in handy.  I sign all my work with a wood burning tip on the wooden base.
 
If you do not have one a regular iron will work as long as you do not use any of the steam settings.  
 
I regulate the temperature to a high medium. The top of the Press N Peel is plastic film. If you melt that you will also spoil your work and get the blue all over your tool, and or iron. (Explain that to your Hunny Bunny.)  You can see where I have had a few of those problems.  That is why I cover the work with a plain sheet of paper.  If I have the tool too hot the paper will brown fast. I know to come down on the juice some.
 
Now go over the image back and forth, up and down, side ways, this way that way every way for about 3 minutes.  Let it cool about 30 seconds.  Remove the cover paper.  Remove one of the pieces of tape over the Press N Peel you left the extra 1/2 inch.  Gently lift.  Look to see in the image has transferred all the lines and detail. f not place the image back down re-tape and go over it some more with the heat and pressure.
 
When you are done remove the tape trim to shape. You can add bolt ropes, cringles reef lines ans anything else you need.
 
If anyone is interested let me know and I will do Pt 2. How to add color images to your sails for pennys.
 
Enjoy shipmates!!
      
 
 

Finished
 
The Cutter is finally finished. It's taken me just under 3 weeks to build.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

So, I've been busy this week.  At last I finally had a chance to work!!
 
I partially tore apart the cross trees on all three masts moved/reassembled them correctly.  Now they just need to have the paint touched up.
 

 

 
finished adding all of the blocks to all three masts

 

 
checked the chain clearance on the bowsprit
  
 
 
I also started work on MK III of the deck houses (never happy)

Thanks Izzy and Mike for your input.
 
I will need to do lots of practice. I've never stropped a block, seized a line, or tied much other than shoelaces.
 
I have Chuck's Servo-matic almost all sanded and ready to assemble. I need to go buy some line to practice with. Make some blocks (to try stuff; I have Chuck's for the real thing). Try a few knots. Finish the software. Start entering the data. Re-read my books a few times. Steal some paint. Decide if I need to make something to put the model on while I rig (so I don't mess my back up changing heights all the time).
 
I think this is going to take a while  :).
 
Still, I'm in no hurry.
 
Richard.

A milestone reached!  All the deck planking is now on.  The deck is far from finished, but at least the planking is all in place.  Next step will be to finish off the treenailing and then clean up the whole mess.  After that I can fit the capping rail and then give the hull a few coats of Wipe-on Poly to pretecvt everything.
 
John
 

 

 

Congratulations, Jay.  I have enjoyed watching your work progress over time.  You must be so happy with the result.  Thanks for sharing your journey with us and Well Done!
 
Bob

Congratulations, Jay.  I have enjoyed watching your work progress over time.  You must be so happy with the result.  Thanks for sharing your journey with us and Well Done!
 
Bob

She is finally finished.
It only took four years with major interruptions, to be sure.
 
After some minor repair work, adding the boats and making the mahogany base, I hoisted the flags and let her sails fill with our family room air.
             
 
One final touch will be a small brass plaque with the name and date mounted on a piece of the wood hopefully coming from our USS Constitution sailor friend. It will go inside the case in front of the bow.
 

Thanks again George, and also thank you folks who have hit the Like button.
 
So, after some deep thought (OK maybe not so deep) I decided to add whole beams at the ends of the main hatch coamings, mainly because these need to have the same deck round up as the other beams, which means the coamings will need to sit on something curved. So, I made two more beams using sheet wood, then separated the beams into those that will be stained, which are the ones that are seen in the hatch, and those that will be planked over. I stained the center of the stained beams, then masked off the ends. I then painted the ends of those beams and the whole length of the other beams on three sides with off white paint, to match the paint I used on the gun deck sides. I did not paint the tops of any of these beams, as they will be planked over. When the paint dried, I installed all of the beams. I adjusted them for height so I was able to not have to do any fairing once the beams were installed.
 

 
I then added the beam supports under all these beams. I had made these up a while ago on the lathe from dowel, but I made a few more just in case. I have never had good results trying to stain dowel, so I mixed up some paint to try and match the oak stain, and painted all of the supports.
 

 
When they dried, I trimmed them to fit under each beam, two supports per beam. I was originally going to add them at the junctions of the beams and the carlings, but since this hatch is so wide they would have been too close to the guns. So, I moved them inboard a bit. I also did not put any under the two extra beams I added because they would have been right behind a gun. it was a bit tricky getting them to line up and be straight in all directions, and I had to remove and reglue a few before I was satisfied with them.
 

 
After this I added all of the carlings, which I also painted on three sides with off white paint, and I attached the monkey rail to the beam behind the main mast. I had to add two supports behind it to get it the right distance from the main mast. It was still in clamps last night so no picture of that yet. I also soaked two lengths of 1/8" square basswood and clamped them to two of the old beams to get them to the round up for the ends of the hatch coamings. They may spring back too much, but if they do I will bend them to a greater curve tonight.

Progress Update and Discussion:
I have not posted for a while, mainly because of problems and frustration with the transom assembly on this vessel.  I thought I had the transom installed EXACTLY as per the instructions.  The position was correct and the angle of the transom relative to the bulkhead former was precisely the same as the template provided (Fig. 11, p.13).  It all seemed to be good.  Planking the hull went smoothly - no severe bends needed for the strakes like with FAIR AMERICAN.  However, when I started planking the bulwarks, I realized that the bulwarks met the transom at a much steeper angle than shown in the plans...and nothing like the Ben Latham would be.  I also discovered that Bulkhead K was off center; something I failed to spot earlier.  I was too far along to rip everything out and start over, so I decided to move forward and see if I could fix it.   Well, as we say here in Virginia, it was kinda like watching sausage being made - not pretty - but I did it to my satisfaction.  I have progressed to the point where I know there will be a finished ship model at the end.  I can no longer claim to be modeling the BENJAMIN W. LATHAM though, and because I have given up on the seine boat, I am no longer modeling a mackeral seiner.  So I guess this will simply be a representative Grand Banks Fishing Schooner.  And that's OK.  I can now borrow ideas from Elia's Arethusa build log as needed. Also, I can add that white stripe at the water line that I really like. Here are some photos to show you my progress to date-
<<Gary>>
 
 
 
 

Hi John,
 
Making the shackles was actually pretty straight forward, as long as you've had some practice with silver soldering. To make the shackles I drilled two holes in plywood to hold some pins. I used some heavier guage straight pins which I think we're about 0.020" in diameter. I then took some 0.020 brass rod, annealed it and wrapped it around the pins. I trimmed the tag ends, silver soldered the loops and bent them around a mandrel to shape.
 
I just re-read what I've been writing and I think it will make a lot more sense with some pictures. Give me a couple of days.
 
John

Not much of an update, but have not been totally slacking!
 
The deck beams have all been installed, as well as the covering board.  With additional helpers here, we have done some preliminary work on the building slip (the 2 young ones, 8 & 10, think it is fun to be able to spread glue and sprinkle cleaned beach sand for the base).
 

 
Next step is to start planking the hull (and adding details to the building slip).
 
 

ohhhhh wait.....what about those chrome parts I've been soaking?  well.....I checked them,  and they look ready.   so, I brought them all to the kitchen counter and set up the plastic bags again.   pulling them out one by one and scrubbing them with the stiff brush,  they cleaned off well enough to be thrown in the tub of soapy water.  when I was done,  everything was triple bagged and thrown in the trash.   the parts are tiny......I used a strainer to rinse them off after washing.
 

 
when they were dried off.....this is what they look like now.   I used a dime for reference.
 

 
the A deck when I turned it over.........
 

 
some assembly was done to the fore deck......four of the capstans and two of the hold covers.   I'm kinda miffed about the hold covers.   clear parts are nothing but pure styrene......the hardness hasn't been compromised by the addition of color pigment or additives.  even though I took care to get them off the sprue,  marks can still be seen.
 

 
...and of course,  the A deck with all the clamps off of it
 

 
there are some small part to go on there yet........then I can get going on the boat deck.   I will continue with the fore deck, and begin work on the stern.   the fore deck has two lengths of chain {plastic} that needs to go on there........I want to sub in a couple pieces of actual chain.   I have been looking for a good picture of the chain routing.........if anyone has one,  I'd be pleased to see it.......can't find one out there,  anywhere!   {so far....anyway} 

Here is a better picture of the inside of the stove:
 

 
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Here are some pictures of the progress so far on the gun deck. I thought I was almost done, but read on...
 
I made up the stove, aft riding bitts, and main topsail sheet bitts.
 

 

 

 
There were all finished with oak stain. As you can see, one is cut off a little short, so I made two more so I have the fore bitts too. I drilled six holes for the simulated sieves and connected them with an awl. They are only 3/16" wide so too small for me anyway, to make from thin layers.
 
I also made  up the ammo scupper covers, using slices of dowel that I cut with the Byrnes saw. I added a small strip across the top, which is used to open them on the real ship, and painted them with Testers Brass enamel paint. I have to say that these metal colored paints like the gold and brass really cover nicely, as opposed from the ME brass paint that doesn't cover well at all.
 

 

 
I added the pot holder to the stove using some black wire and a bent eyebolt as a hook. Here are pictures with the riding bitt, stove and coaming in place.
 

 

 

 
The problem is that the stove is too far forward for the chinmey to line up with the hatch and stove pipe on the spar deck, so I am going to remove them, remake the coaming, and add a box to the front of the stove. It would have good to check this BEFORE I made them, and certainly before I glued them in place! Sheech...
 
You can also see the cannon ball racks in place with the cannon balls. Here are pictures of the updated pumps with a straight wire between the pumps around the main mast.
 

 

 
After I clean up the stove situation next week, I will be started to make the new deck beams. I kept the old beam sections that I cut off over a year ago and will use them as templates for the new beams. I am going to be cutting these from basswood sheet, and will shape them up in the new thickness sander I got for my birthday. I can't wait to play with that new toy.
 
Have a great weekend, all.

The deck planking continues to plod ahead.  Just a few more to go now, so I should get them fitted on my next visit to the museum - then comes the rest of the treenailing and the cleaning up.
 
John
 

 

 

I decided to make the gin blocks.  
 
Gin blocks are used to raise the yards.  A chain goes from the yard through a sheave in the masts then connects to the eye of the gin block.  another chain goes from one side of the hull up and through the block and back down to the other side of the ship where it is connected to a line which then is heaved (sometimes through a block on the deck).  When the line is heaved on deck it pulls down on the gin block which pulls the chain attached to the yard and the yard travels up as the gin block travels down.
 
So here is how I made them
 
I put a dowel into my drill, using it as a lathe and cut the wheels for the blocks.  No photos for that step.  Took them and lost them somehow.  Anyway, I found that the best way to do this was to measure the widths needed and cut grooves into the dowel - this is where the wheels will be separated with a saw.  After cutting these grooves, I then shaped the groove to hold the chains into each wheel.  I then separated each wheel using a hand micro saw.  I made many extra wheels which I lost all over my garage some how.
 
I made the frame out of copper and brass.  I made eye bolts bending brass wire and then soldered it to a straight piece of brass. I then bent the brass piece into the front and back vertical sections and then bent and soldered  the copper into the horizontal section.  Originally the prototypes had an axel and moving wheel.  They took a lot of work for no real benefit over a fixed wheel version.  Since they didn't need to function, I decided to make the wheels fixed.
 
So this is the prototype tests
 



 
Here are the gin blocks before painting

 
Then after painting

Thanks for the likes.
 
I finally finished installing and rigging the starboard side gun deck guns. It's not that it was time consuming, I just didn't have the time to work on them lately. Lots of stuff going on outside the workshop, including my son's college graduation this weekend and getting the lake house ready for summer. But, I have some time this week to work on her.
 
Here are the starboard side guns, from inside and outside.
 

 

 
And here are all the guns on the gun deck.
 

 

 

 
Now for some self criticism. I have always had a problem with the breaching ropes looking realistic, as they want to stick out from the sides of the carriages. Here is what I think looks very realistic, from Lukasvdb's Le-Superbe build.
 

 
For one thing, these breaching ropes are longer and drape nicely on the deck. I think they are probably made with nicer rope too that is more flexible than the nylon stuff I made. I may try to do the breaching ropes on the spar deck this way, using cotton thread to make the breach ropes instead of nylon.
 
The next task is to add the chain pumps that I made earlier to the gun deck. I have also started to think about making this U shaped main rail, which is not what is on the ship today. I found the plans for it on the Constitution CD, so I have everything I need to build it. I thought the legs for this would go all the way down to the gun deck or below, but the plans only show them going 12" into the spar deck. I am going to make the lower monkey rail in front of the U shaped main pin rail go all the way to the gun deck though.
 

 
I am getting to the fun stuff now.
 
 

Richard -
 
I like the idea.  I stared a spreadsheet for Bluenose when I was working on the head rigging.  It was more of a historical documentation item at that point than a planning tool, but as I ponder moving forward someday, it would be nice to have everything laid out in a manner that would allow for manipulation of the order, and to mark each line complete as you go through the process. 
 
Bob

Last fall I began tinkering with making a dory for my schooner with the idea of casting them in resin. The reasoning for casting them was that I didn’t think my build precision and tolerances could yield a stack of dories (5-6) in which the nested dories would resemble real stacks of dories which pack together fairly tightly.

I used a plan for a 15 foot (measured along the bottom of the dory) version. This is representative of the dories used during Arethusa’s era, and the length of dory used for halibut, cod, and other larger dory trawling fishing.

The first photo shows the plans I used.
The second photo shows the bulkheads aligned on a small build board. The transom and stem were extended to the build board and glued in place. Later on they were judiciously cut off the build board once the planking was complete.


The third photo shows the strakes used on the sides of the hull. The largest width strakes could have been left straight; I chose to pre-cut the lower edge to aid in alignment with the bottom plank. Take note that the upper strakes are purely straight planks with no in-plane spiling. This was very common.


The fourth photo shows the bottom surface glued and secured in place. The bottom has a slight rocker or camber (fore-aft) to it.


The fifth photo shows the second strake glued in place. The lap strake assembly method presented slight challenges to me. I tried applying the very small bevel to the mating surfaces of the adjoining strakes. When assembling it was difficult to get the strakes to stay in the correct spot as the bevels and the clamps (applying force - to the beveled surfaces) resulted in the upper strake/plank moving.


The sixth photo shows the dory with planking complete and cut off the build board. You can see the extended stem and transom in this photo.


The seventh photo shows the dory upside down.


I’ve done a little clean up on the dory, having trimmed down the stem and transom and will add the rail strips. I received a starter resin casting set for my birthday and my casting attempts will follow shortly.

Cheers,

Elia

The fish hatches. The kit’s hatches are square 30x30 mm with the hatch itself slightly smaller than the lid. Overall height: 6mm.
 

 
 
Using Matija’s plans and converting to scale 1/64 (3/4 of 1/48) which I assume is about right, I come to hatch sizes of 40x29 mm (main deck) and 35x24 mm (quarterdeck), 5 mm high. From the old photos (there is only one from the 1940’s showing a fish hatch) I am not sure that these sizes are accurate, but it’s the best I have to go on. According to Howard Chapelle the coaming of the hatches was 19”-24” high. From the photo I would guess this to be a bit on the high side for the Bluenose. My guess would be 30-40 cm, which translates roughly to 6 mm. above deck. So I took 7mm strips for the coaming with the intention to sink them into the deck (0.7mm) and go with that.
According to Chapelle the covers were seated in rabbets cut on the inside of the coamings. I am going to simulate this by gluing a block of balsa into the coamings and let the covers rest on this. Coamings were natural wood (weathered = dark like the deck), the covers were made of planks painted white on a frame. Unfortunately I have not found a photograph on which this can be verified for the Bluenose.
 
Two pictures of the basic fish hatch (coamings with the balsa, but without the covers) I made compared to the real one on the Bluenose (the man is standing in front of it):
 


 
 
Picture of one of the fish hatches being constructed. It is painted with a mix of “chocolate brown” and “mahogany varnish” and here I test-fitted the strips of which I make the covers:
 

 
Now on to creating the covers, painting everything and doing the metal work. I am a little bit reluctant to start on the metal work (hinges, etc.) since I have no experience with this whatsoever. I am eager to start, but I don’t want to rush it into 15 minutes of free time..