EdT

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 41 – Forecastle Fancy Rail
 
We are almost approaching the end of the modeling I did on the 1:96 version of Young America.  In the last part the fancy rail around the stern was installed.  The same methods were used on the fancy rail at the bow – with a few minor differences.
 
In the first picture, the central, forward section of the rail has been pinned in place – prior to cutting the scarph joints.
 

 
A template made from one of the pdf drawings was used, since the outer shape could not be traced as was done on the stern.   The joints were then formed, the inside (only) edge rounded by sanding, and the piece painted.  It is shown pinned in place below.
 

 
The side pieces were then fitted in the same manner as those at the stern – as shown below.
 

 
The joints were then formed on these, the edges rounded, and the pieces painted before installation. The starboard piece is being glued in the next picture.
 

 
Note the use of a screw clamp to close the joint to the forward section.  The next step is shown in the last picture.
 

 
There is a small triangular area between the knightheads and the rail on each side which must be capped.  In the picture, small pieces are being fit over these areas.  The outside edge of the forward piece was left unrounded for this work.  Fitting these with an invisible joint required some sanding of the top faces of the installed pieces – as can be seen.  These were of course painted over later – after the outside edges were made flush with the main pieces and rounded over.  Unfortunately, I did not take a close-up picture of the finished work.
 
All that now remained to do on this model was to add the fancy rails along the main deck.  This would bring it to the relatively presentable state for the trip to the NRG conference in October.  I will cover that last bit of work in the next – and perhaps final – part.
 
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 41 – Forecastle Fancy Rail
 
We are almost approaching the end of the modeling I did on the 1:96 version of Young America.  In the last part the fancy rail around the stern was installed.  The same methods were used on the fancy rail at the bow – with a few minor differences.
 
In the first picture, the central, forward section of the rail has been pinned in place – prior to cutting the scarph joints.
 

 
A template made from one of the pdf drawings was used, since the outer shape could not be traced as was done on the stern.   The joints were then formed, the inside (only) edge rounded by sanding, and the piece painted.  It is shown pinned in place below.
 

 
The side pieces were then fitted in the same manner as those at the stern – as shown below.
 

 
The joints were then formed on these, the edges rounded, and the pieces painted before installation. The starboard piece is being glued in the next picture.
 

 
Note the use of a screw clamp to close the joint to the forward section.  The next step is shown in the last picture.
 

 
There is a small triangular area between the knightheads and the rail on each side which must be capped.  In the picture, small pieces are being fit over these areas.  The outside edge of the forward piece was left unrounded for this work.  Fitting these with an invisible joint required some sanding of the top faces of the installed pieces – as can be seen.  These were of course painted over later – after the outside edges were made flush with the main pieces and rounded over.  Unfortunately, I did not take a close-up picture of the finished work.
 
All that now remained to do on this model was to add the fancy rails along the main deck.  This would bring it to the relatively presentable state for the trip to the NRG conference in October.  I will cover that last bit of work in the next – and perhaps final – part.
 
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 41 – Forecastle Fancy Rail
 
We are almost approaching the end of the modeling I did on the 1:96 version of Young America.  In the last part the fancy rail around the stern was installed.  The same methods were used on the fancy rail at the bow – with a few minor differences.
 
In the first picture, the central, forward section of the rail has been pinned in place – prior to cutting the scarph joints.
 

 
A template made from one of the pdf drawings was used, since the outer shape could not be traced as was done on the stern.   The joints were then formed, the inside (only) edge rounded by sanding, and the piece painted.  It is shown pinned in place below.
 

 
The side pieces were then fitted in the same manner as those at the stern – as shown below.
 

 
The joints were then formed on these, the edges rounded, and the pieces painted before installation. The starboard piece is being glued in the next picture.
 

 
Note the use of a screw clamp to close the joint to the forward section.  The next step is shown in the last picture.
 

 
There is a small triangular area between the knightheads and the rail on each side which must be capped.  In the picture, small pieces are being fit over these areas.  The outside edge of the forward piece was left unrounded for this work.  Fitting these with an invisible joint required some sanding of the top faces of the installed pieces – as can be seen.  These were of course painted over later – after the outside edges were made flush with the main pieces and rounded over.  Unfortunately, I did not take a close-up picture of the finished work.
 
All that now remained to do on this model was to add the fancy rails along the main deck.  This would bring it to the relatively presentable state for the trip to the NRG conference in October.  I will cover that last bit of work in the next – and perhaps final – part.
 
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 40 – Stern Fancy Rail 2
 
OK.  Christmas is past and it is time to get back to work – slowly at first, starting with a POB build log update – then off to the shop.  In the last part, the aft sections of the stern fancy rail were installed.  In the first picture below, the starboard side section is being fitted.
 

 
This piece was first shaped by tracing the outer profile along the hull – as was done for the stern pieces - then marking its width, its length, and the joint.  In the picture the joint has been rough-cut and is being test fitted.  You may notice that the stern section in the picture has been sanded somewhat.  Actually there is quite a bit of this to be done on the top rail after bolts are installed, to match the rounded edges, etc.  As long as the line against the black and the deck is left intact this is not a problem, since the top of the rail can be refinished without having to cut in the line at the edges.
 
In the next picture the section of rail shown above has been painted and is being glued down with the help of locating pins and screw clamps.
 

 
The next picture shows the clamps gripped under the mizzen channel and the main rail.
 

 
In the next picture the rail on the opposite side is being installed.
 

 
In the picture the leftmost clamp is closing the scarph joint in the rail.  Note also that these rail sections end at the forward edge of the breast beam.  At this point the rail thins down in width, so the next sections along the main deck will be narrower, but the outside line of the rail will be flush.
 
The last picture shows the rail around the poop deck completed.
 

 
The rail at the bow was installed next.
 
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 39 – Stern Fancy Rail
 
The so-called “fancy rail” capped the tops of the bulwarks along the main rail, but at the forecastle and poop decks it also served to seal off and make watertight the top of the framing at the side.  Although the curved margin plank below covered the tops of the timbers in these areas, this was not likely a caulked, waterproof joint.  For this reason, the fancy rails at the forecastle and poop needed to be wide enough to overlap the outboard planks and also the inside margin plank by enough to permit good caulked joints.  I wrestled with this because published sections through the bulwarks at the main deck generally show capping rails too narrow to meet the needs described above where they are at deck level.  To resolve this, I decided to make the fancy rail wider at the end decks and step it down at the breast beams to a narrower width along the main deck bulwarks.  A long story, but one that builders of the model should find useful.
 
The work on the fancy rail started at the stern.  The process for making the curved, hook-scarphed pieces was used on the margin plank below and on all similar pieces at both ends.  Since I took a lot of pictures of the method on this rail, and since there are a number of these pieces to make, I decided to show the process that I use for this in some detail. Although it is covered in depth in the book for the framed model, this description may be of help to builders of this smaller version.   In the first picture the first piece has been cut and pinned on the starboard quarter.  
 

 
Pin holes were pre-drilled for a sliding fit with the pins.  The joint of the two stern sections will be on the centerline – staggered from the joints on the margin plank below.  On this model all the pieces were cut from ¾” stock.  I used this as a maximum thickness on this version so modelers could cut members to size with a good 4” circular saw and not need major tools like full size band(or circular) saw and thickness sander(or planer) that would be necessary if starting with the thicker stock that is needed for many pieces on the framed model.  In this case the stock was readily available ¾” maple cut to a thickness of 3½” (just over 1/32”).  It will be painted.
 
In the next picture the scarph joints have been formed at the ends and the piece re-pinned in place.
 

 
The piece extends about 3” outside of the outboard planking and covers about one-half of the margin plank.  The piece was initially formed by the process shown below for the second piece on the port side.
 

 
The ¾” width of maple strip was first marked to the shape of the stern from below as shown.  The piece is being test fit in the next picture after cutting the outer curve.
 

 
In the next picture end of this piece is being marked from the joint of the piece below.
 

 
The full width of the piece was then marked out using a compass set to the width of the plank with an extended leg held to the outer curve.  It was then carefully cut and shaped to this line.  Care is needed because of the weak cross grain at the ends.  I believe in an earlier post I pasted similar pieces to a scrap piece to protect the ends on a similar piece for cutting.  The next picture shows the piece slipped under the first piece, fit into place and being drilled for locating pins.
 

 
Once pinned the joint on the new piece can be marked out using a very sharp pencil as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The joint was then cut on the second piece and fitted to the first as shown below. 
 

 
This picture was taken during the cutting and fitting process.  Note that the joint has not yet been cut at the forward end of this piece.  I will not describe cutting these joints since the method appears in a number of my other posts and is fully described in the book – and in the Naiad books.
 
In the next part the side rails along the poop will be fitted and all these rails rounded off, painted and installed.
 
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 38 – Channels and Pin Rails
 
The upper channels were installed first.  They were glued into the gap in the outer planking left for the main rail.  In the first picture these have been installed and one of the lower channels is being positioned and glued.
 

 
 
The lower channels were first located and pinned then separated on the pins so glue could be applied as shown.  The next picture shows one of these being clamped after gluing.
 

 
The channel is both pinned and clamped.  The small screw clamp at the center adjusts and holds the lower channel in a horizontal position.  After the glue had set the pins were replaced by epoxied wire bolts to strengthen the joint.
 
Next the pin rails inside the bulwarks were made and installed.  The holes were drilled thru these on the milling machine to maintain even spacing and a smooth line.  In the next picture the paint is being filed off the inside of the top timbers below the main rail so the pin rails can be glued.
 

 
After the pin rail was fitted and any width adjustments made to ensure the correct projection inside the rail, it was clamped in position and holes were drilled through it into each toptimber.  These were used for pins to maintain alignment when gluing and later replaced by wire bolts – epoxied in to strengthen the connection against future rigging strains.  In the next picture a rail has been pulled out on the pins for application of glue.
 

 
The rail was then pushed into position and clamped.
 
With all this work completed, the hull could be painted.  The methods I used for this were covered elsewhere so I will not repeat here.  Once the hull and the sections of the white outer main rail were painted, those sections could be installed in the gap left in the planking.  The section around the stern that was made earlier is being glued in the next picture.
 

 
This piece was fitted and trimmed earlier to expose the correct width outside the planking.  The next picture shows one of the installed section between channels.
 

 
The last picture shows the hull on the port side at this stage.
 

 
The work I planned for this model was almost complete at this stage.  All that remained was to install the capping fancy rail along the top of the side. 
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 41 – Forecastle Fancy Rail
 
We are almost approaching the end of the modeling I did on the 1:96 version of Young America.  In the last part the fancy rail around the stern was installed.  The same methods were used on the fancy rail at the bow – with a few minor differences.
 
In the first picture, the central, forward section of the rail has been pinned in place – prior to cutting the scarph joints.
 

 
A template made from one of the pdf drawings was used, since the outer shape could not be traced as was done on the stern.   The joints were then formed, the inside (only) edge rounded by sanding, and the piece painted.  It is shown pinned in place below.
 

 
The side pieces were then fitted in the same manner as those at the stern – as shown below.
 

 
The joints were then formed on these, the edges rounded, and the pieces painted before installation. The starboard piece is being glued in the next picture.
 

 
Note the use of a screw clamp to close the joint to the forward section.  The next step is shown in the last picture.
 

 
There is a small triangular area between the knightheads and the rail on each side which must be capped.  In the picture, small pieces are being fit over these areas.  The outside edge of the forward piece was left unrounded for this work.  Fitting these with an invisible joint required some sanding of the top faces of the installed pieces – as can be seen.  These were of course painted over later – after the outside edges were made flush with the main pieces and rounded over.  Unfortunately, I did not take a close-up picture of the finished work.
 
All that now remained to do on this model was to add the fancy rails along the main deck.  This would bring it to the relatively presentable state for the trip to the NRG conference in October.  I will cover that last bit of work in the next – and perhaps final – part.
 
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 41 – Forecastle Fancy Rail
 
We are almost approaching the end of the modeling I did on the 1:96 version of Young America.  In the last part the fancy rail around the stern was installed.  The same methods were used on the fancy rail at the bow – with a few minor differences.
 
In the first picture, the central, forward section of the rail has been pinned in place – prior to cutting the scarph joints.
 

 
A template made from one of the pdf drawings was used, since the outer shape could not be traced as was done on the stern.   The joints were then formed, the inside (only) edge rounded by sanding, and the piece painted.  It is shown pinned in place below.
 

 
The side pieces were then fitted in the same manner as those at the stern – as shown below.
 

 
The joints were then formed on these, the edges rounded, and the pieces painted before installation. The starboard piece is being glued in the next picture.
 

 
Note the use of a screw clamp to close the joint to the forward section.  The next step is shown in the last picture.
 

 
There is a small triangular area between the knightheads and the rail on each side which must be capped.  In the picture, small pieces are being fit over these areas.  The outside edge of the forward piece was left unrounded for this work.  Fitting these with an invisible joint required some sanding of the top faces of the installed pieces – as can be seen.  These were of course painted over later – after the outside edges were made flush with the main pieces and rounded over.  Unfortunately, I did not take a close-up picture of the finished work.
 
All that now remained to do on this model was to add the fancy rails along the main deck.  This would bring it to the relatively presentable state for the trip to the NRG conference in October.  I will cover that last bit of work in the next – and perhaps final – part.
 
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 41 – Forecastle Fancy Rail
 
We are almost approaching the end of the modeling I did on the 1:96 version of Young America.  In the last part the fancy rail around the stern was installed.  The same methods were used on the fancy rail at the bow – with a few minor differences.
 
In the first picture, the central, forward section of the rail has been pinned in place – prior to cutting the scarph joints.
 

 
A template made from one of the pdf drawings was used, since the outer shape could not be traced as was done on the stern.   The joints were then formed, the inside (only) edge rounded by sanding, and the piece painted.  It is shown pinned in place below.
 

 
The side pieces were then fitted in the same manner as those at the stern – as shown below.
 

 
The joints were then formed on these, the edges rounded, and the pieces painted before installation. The starboard piece is being glued in the next picture.
 

 
Note the use of a screw clamp to close the joint to the forward section.  The next step is shown in the last picture.
 

 
There is a small triangular area between the knightheads and the rail on each side which must be capped.  In the picture, small pieces are being fit over these areas.  The outside edge of the forward piece was left unrounded for this work.  Fitting these with an invisible joint required some sanding of the top faces of the installed pieces – as can be seen.  These were of course painted over later – after the outside edges were made flush with the main pieces and rounded over.  Unfortunately, I did not take a close-up picture of the finished work.
 
All that now remained to do on this model was to add the fancy rails along the main deck.  This would bring it to the relatively presentable state for the trip to the NRG conference in October.  I will cover that last bit of work in the next – and perhaps final – part.
 
 
Ed

Hello,
 
I hope everyone had a great New Years!  I spent the last week playing catch-up after taking some time off with the family.
 
The rest of the machinery requires some of the deck to be in place so that took up most of my time this last week.  Heroine's planking isn't pretty!  The widths of her planking range from 3" up to 15" and there is very little pattern to it.  In the stern, the port side planking ranges from 6 to 10 inches and the corresponding area to starboard is made up of 3 to 6 inch planking.  Although some of it is repairs,  some of it looks like they ran out of the wide planks quickly and made due with whatever they had.
 
 
Guard planking completed.  Kevin discovered the remains of black paint on the hull timbers and the guard cap.  He believes the Upper works were white with black trim.

 

 

 

 

 
Starting to add deck planking.  One of Heroine's cam frames in back for scale.

 
 
This cam frame was in the bow compartment as a spare.  It was late coming out of conservation and I haven't had time to model it in AutoCAD for machining.  That will be my first task for next week.

 
Close up of repair to cam frame.

 
Close up of wedge in one arm of the cam frame.  It appears that when the splint was riveted to the frame there was still some play so they drove this wedge in.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 131 – Belaying Pins
 
Actual modeling work on Young America has been slow through the holiday period, but I have been putting a lot of effort into research on her rigging and the development of a detailed rigging list with specs for all the lines.  This has been a slow process because rigging was undergoing constant change through the life of the ship – for example moving to the use of iron for many attachments and rigging lines (chain, wire) as well.  Also, sources on sizes, where they exist, vary.  This work will go on for some time.
 
As this “paperwork” has progressed, it has thrown off a variety of diverting questions as to how many (small) parts will be made – for example shackles, iron strapped blocks, gin blocks, etc.  I decided to tackle iron belaying pins as a side project, but one that arises soon in the construction.
 
Model belaying pins often suffer from poor proportionality – generally being too large – especially the wooden variety.  I am determined that the 250 or so of these on the YA model will not suffer from this, so I began work on making these.
 
This started with the use of brass tubing to create a steady rest around a brass rod so these could be turned in the lathe.  This did not work well on the .032” brass rod needed for these.  The next step was to try filing these in the lathe using the simple hardwood guide shown in the first picture.
 

 
The block was stepped and shaped to the pin outline.  A v-shaped groove was cut on the lathe centerline to contain the brass rod.  The next picture shows some filing in progress.
 

 
The results were not too bad – as far as being proportional at least.  The first few made this way are shown below.
 

 
While these are about the right size there is variation in their shapes that needed to be eliminated.  A few of these have been blackened to simulate the iron of the originals.
 
I decided that a much more accurate filing guide was needed and decided to make it to fit in a lathe tailstock chuck – and also to make it robust so it would not bend or break as 250 of these pins were made.  In the first picture a ¼” brass rod is being indicated in the 4-jaw lathe chuck so a deep .032”center hole could be very accurately drilled.
 

 
A small center drill in the tailstock chuck was then used to spot the center.  The .032" hole was then drilled to about .6 inches.  The rod was the transferred to the milling machine for cutting the belaying pin profile.
 

 
To cut the profile, a very accurate CAD drawing of the pin profile was made showing the precise cutting depths and positions so these could be set using the mill's calibration wheels.  In the next picture the guide has been set up in a tailstock chuck and the brass rod passed through the headstock drill chuck and into the guide.
 

 
With the rod contained in the guide the profile could be filed with the lathe running.  In the next picture a round file is being used to shape the concave handle curves.
 

 
The diameter of the lower part of the pin is about 1½” (.021” actual).  This is being filed down with a flat file in the next picture.
 

 
As each of the first few pins were made the guide itself was filed to refine the convex curves of the pin handle that were not easily cut on the mill.  Some of the first few pins are shown in the next picture.
 

 
These look better and should be satisfactory.  They will be mostly hidden by rope coils. Some more polish may help with the blackening and these should get better with practice.  These took less than 5 minutes each.  This will get tedious so I am interspersing it with other work need to complete the deck detailing.
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 131 – Belaying Pins
 
Actual modeling work on Young America has been slow through the holiday period, but I have been putting a lot of effort into research on her rigging and the development of a detailed rigging list with specs for all the lines.  This has been a slow process because rigging was undergoing constant change through the life of the ship – for example moving to the use of iron for many attachments and rigging lines (chain, wire) as well.  Also, sources on sizes, where they exist, vary.  This work will go on for some time.
 
As this “paperwork” has progressed, it has thrown off a variety of diverting questions as to how many (small) parts will be made – for example shackles, iron strapped blocks, gin blocks, etc.  I decided to tackle iron belaying pins as a side project, but one that arises soon in the construction.
 
Model belaying pins often suffer from poor proportionality – generally being too large – especially the wooden variety.  I am determined that the 250 or so of these on the YA model will not suffer from this, so I began work on making these.
 
This started with the use of brass tubing to create a steady rest around a brass rod so these could be turned in the lathe.  This did not work well on the .032” brass rod needed for these.  The next step was to try filing these in the lathe using the simple hardwood guide shown in the first picture.
 

 
The block was stepped and shaped to the pin outline.  A v-shaped groove was cut on the lathe centerline to contain the brass rod.  The next picture shows some filing in progress.
 

 
The results were not too bad – as far as being proportional at least.  The first few made this way are shown below.
 

 
While these are about the right size there is variation in their shapes that needed to be eliminated.  A few of these have been blackened to simulate the iron of the originals.
 
I decided that a much more accurate filing guide was needed and decided to make it to fit in a lathe tailstock chuck – and also to make it robust so it would not bend or break as 250 of these pins were made.  In the first picture a ¼” brass rod is being indicated in the 4-jaw lathe chuck so a deep .032”center hole could be very accurately drilled.
 

 
A small center drill in the tailstock chuck was then used to spot the center.  The .032" hole was then drilled to about .6 inches.  The rod was the transferred to the milling machine for cutting the belaying pin profile.
 

 
To cut the profile, a very accurate CAD drawing of the pin profile was made showing the precise cutting depths and positions so these could be set using the mill's calibration wheels.  In the next picture the guide has been set up in a tailstock chuck and the brass rod passed through the headstock drill chuck and into the guide.
 

 
With the rod contained in the guide the profile could be filed with the lathe running.  In the next picture a round file is being used to shape the concave handle curves.
 

 
The diameter of the lower part of the pin is about 1½” (.021” actual).  This is being filed down with a flat file in the next picture.
 

 
As each of the first few pins were made the guide itself was filed to refine the convex curves of the pin handle that were not easily cut on the mill.  Some of the first few pins are shown in the next picture.
 

 
These look better and should be satisfactory.  They will be mostly hidden by rope coils. Some more polish may help with the blackening and these should get better with practice.  These took less than 5 minutes each.  This will get tedious so I am interspersing it with other work need to complete the deck detailing.
 
 
Ed

Hello Bob.
 
I hope I did not leave the impression that CNC was used to make the guide.  The milling cuts were made by hand turning the calibration wheels on the mill from reference surfaces on the piece.  Pretty standard milling practice. I'd be glad to explain further.  I would like to hear more n your idea for mass producing knees.  It sounds not unlike the solution presented in the book and in the Naiad books.  Any new twist that you have would be of interest.
 
Ed

Hello Bob.
 
I hope I did not leave the impression that CNC was used to make the guide.  The milling cuts were made by hand turning the calibration wheels on the mill from reference surfaces on the piece.  Pretty standard milling practice. I'd be glad to explain further.  I would like to hear more n your idea for mass producing knees.  It sounds not unlike the solution presented in the book and in the Naiad books.  Any new twist that you have would be of interest.
 
Ed

Hello Bob.
 
I hope I did not leave the impression that CNC was used to make the guide.  The milling cuts were made by hand turning the calibration wheels on the mill from reference surfaces on the piece.  Pretty standard milling practice. I'd be glad to explain further.  I would like to hear more n your idea for mass producing knees.  It sounds not unlike the solution presented in the book and in the Naiad books.  Any new twist that you have would be of interest.
 
Ed

Hello Bob.
 
I hope I did not leave the impression that CNC was used to make the guide.  The milling cuts were made by hand turning the calibration wheels on the mill from reference surfaces on the piece.  Pretty standard milling practice. I'd be glad to explain further.  I would like to hear more n your idea for mass producing knees.  It sounds not unlike the solution presented in the book and in the Naiad books.  Any new twist that you have would be of interest.
 
Ed

Hi Ed,
Thanks for the explanation.  I don't have CNC on my milling machine, so making the fixture manually will be a significant challenge.  I have been toying with some ideas about mass producing the hundreds of knees that will be required.  The idea would be to make a generic form similar to molding strips that are cut to size and individually sanded angles to fit each application.  The redundancy of frame fabrication has got me looking ahead.
 
HI druxey,
Nice alternative solution. Thanks, Bob 

Hi Ed,
Interesting process.  A couple of questions.  It appears that the 1/32 stock wire is "inserted" into the fixture and is restrained at the handle butt and the end of the pin shank.  Otherwise, the file pressure would risk bending the pin.  Its a little hard to determine from the photos.  True?  At what speed are you turning the stock?  With such close tolerances, alignment seem quite critical.  What cutters did you use to cut the handle profile on the mill?
 
The 0.021" shank of brass is obviously very thin and fragile.  Any problem with the pins bending?  I'm not familiar with iron pins.  Your prototypes seem to have a very long shank compared with the handle.  Is that typical of iron pins?   Will these be trimmed to a different length?
 
Always looking forward to your posts,  Bob
 
P.S. My YA is progressing,  I've been making frames, and frames, and frames, etc.

I agree that properly proportioned belaying pins on models are the exception rather than the rule! My own workaround was to make the pin in two parts: the straight shank and the contoured handle. The handles have short pins for insertion into the rack. Of course Remco's and your own solution to turning small diameter parts is far more elegant!

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 131 – Belaying Pins
 
Actual modeling work on Young America has been slow through the holiday period, but I have been putting a lot of effort into research on her rigging and the development of a detailed rigging list with specs for all the lines.  This has been a slow process because rigging was undergoing constant change through the life of the ship – for example moving to the use of iron for many attachments and rigging lines (chain, wire) as well.  Also, sources on sizes, where they exist, vary.  This work will go on for some time.
 
As this “paperwork” has progressed, it has thrown off a variety of diverting questions as to how many (small) parts will be made – for example shackles, iron strapped blocks, gin blocks, etc.  I decided to tackle iron belaying pins as a side project, but one that arises soon in the construction.
 
Model belaying pins often suffer from poor proportionality – generally being too large – especially the wooden variety.  I am determined that the 250 or so of these on the YA model will not suffer from this, so I began work on making these.
 
This started with the use of brass tubing to create a steady rest around a brass rod so these could be turned in the lathe.  This did not work well on the .032” brass rod needed for these.  The next step was to try filing these in the lathe using the simple hardwood guide shown in the first picture.
 

 
The block was stepped and shaped to the pin outline.  A v-shaped groove was cut on the lathe centerline to contain the brass rod.  The next picture shows some filing in progress.
 

 
The results were not too bad – as far as being proportional at least.  The first few made this way are shown below.
 

 
While these are about the right size there is variation in their shapes that needed to be eliminated.  A few of these have been blackened to simulate the iron of the originals.
 
I decided that a much more accurate filing guide was needed and decided to make it to fit in a lathe tailstock chuck – and also to make it robust so it would not bend or break as 250 of these pins were made.  In the first picture a ¼” brass rod is being indicated in the 4-jaw lathe chuck so a deep .032”center hole could be very accurately drilled.
 

 
A small center drill in the tailstock chuck was then used to spot the center.  The .032" hole was then drilled to about .6 inches.  The rod was the transferred to the milling machine for cutting the belaying pin profile.
 

 
To cut the profile, a very accurate CAD drawing of the pin profile was made showing the precise cutting depths and positions so these could be set using the mill's calibration wheels.  In the next picture the guide has been set up in a tailstock chuck and the brass rod passed through the headstock drill chuck and into the guide.
 

 
With the rod contained in the guide the profile could be filed with the lathe running.  In the next picture a round file is being used to shape the concave handle curves.
 

 
The diameter of the lower part of the pin is about 1½” (.021” actual).  This is being filed down with a flat file in the next picture.
 

 
As each of the first few pins were made the guide itself was filed to refine the convex curves of the pin handle that were not easily cut on the mill.  Some of the first few pins are shown in the next picture.
 

 
These look better and should be satisfactory.  They will be mostly hidden by rope coils. Some more polish may help with the blackening and these should get better with practice.  These took less than 5 minutes each.  This will get tedious so I am interspersing it with other work need to complete the deck detailing.
 
 
Ed

Hello, Bob,
 
Glad to hear your model is progressing.
 
I will try to answer your questions.  First, whether the pins are wood or iron I would make them of brass because wood will not be strong enough on a rigged model at this small size.  I believe they are strong enough for the service using the hard brass.  The pins are on the long side.  I intend to trim them to a uniform length before final finishing rather than clip them accurately when separating them in the lathe.  They will be trimmed then pickled and blackened in one or two batches when all are made.
 
It is true that the wire is inserted into the guide by sliding the tailstock forward over the chucked wire, but it is not restrained at the tail end.  It is held down because the guide surfaces do not extend to the centerline of the part.  File pressure is light and there has been no problem with the wire staying in place.  Even the thin section at the lower end has not shown any deflection during filing.  I am using a medium file (#2 Grobet) on that section and on the handle end initially then a fine round and flat to finish.  They are then polished using crocus pushed down with a pencil eraser.
 
I am not sure of the speed, probably fairly low surface speed due to the small diameter.  Three cutters were used to make the guide  3/8" and 1/8" square end mills and a 1/8" ball end mill.
 
This is a new method for me and could perhaps benefit from some improvements.  One might be to leave the headstock end of the guide at full 1/4" rod diameter to more firmly hold the pin, although this has not been a problem.   Doing this at the handle end would make the end difficult to round and size. However, I do not see enough potential benefit to make a new guide.
 
Having made a few dozen of these, I am well satisfied with the final result and the efficiency.  I do worry a bit about the few hundred on-off cycles on the ancient Unimat motor however.  (I do have a spare.)
 
Ed

Hello, Bob,
 
Glad to hear your model is progressing.
 
I will try to answer your questions.  First, whether the pins are wood or iron I would make them of brass because wood will not be strong enough on a rigged model at this small size.  I believe they are strong enough for the service using the hard brass.  The pins are on the long side.  I intend to trim them to a uniform length before final finishing rather than clip them accurately when separating them in the lathe.  They will be trimmed then pickled and blackened in one or two batches when all are made.
 
It is true that the wire is inserted into the guide by sliding the tailstock forward over the chucked wire, but it is not restrained at the tail end.  It is held down because the guide surfaces do not extend to the centerline of the part.  File pressure is light and there has been no problem with the wire staying in place.  Even the thin section at the lower end has not shown any deflection during filing.  I am using a medium file (#2 Grobet) on that section and on the handle end initially then a fine round and flat to finish.  They are then polished using crocus pushed down with a pencil eraser.
 
I am not sure of the speed, probably fairly low surface speed due to the small diameter.  Three cutters were used to make the guide  3/8" and 1/8" square end mills and a 1/8" ball end mill.
 
This is a new method for me and could perhaps benefit from some improvements.  One might be to leave the headstock end of the guide at full 1/4" rod diameter to more firmly hold the pin, although this has not been a problem.   Doing this at the handle end would make the end difficult to round and size. However, I do not see enough potential benefit to make a new guide.
 
Having made a few dozen of these, I am well satisfied with the final result and the efficiency.  I do worry a bit about the few hundred on-off cycles on the ancient Unimat motor however.  (I do have a spare.)
 
Ed

Hello, Bob,
 
Glad to hear your model is progressing.
 
I will try to answer your questions.  First, whether the pins are wood or iron I would make them of brass because wood will not be strong enough on a rigged model at this small size.  I believe they are strong enough for the service using the hard brass.  The pins are on the long side.  I intend to trim them to a uniform length before final finishing rather than clip them accurately when separating them in the lathe.  They will be trimmed then pickled and blackened in one or two batches when all are made.
 
It is true that the wire is inserted into the guide by sliding the tailstock forward over the chucked wire, but it is not restrained at the tail end.  It is held down because the guide surfaces do not extend to the centerline of the part.  File pressure is light and there has been no problem with the wire staying in place.  Even the thin section at the lower end has not shown any deflection during filing.  I am using a medium file (#2 Grobet) on that section and on the handle end initially then a fine round and flat to finish.  They are then polished using crocus pushed down with a pencil eraser.
 
I am not sure of the speed, probably fairly low surface speed due to the small diameter.  Three cutters were used to make the guide  3/8" and 1/8" square end mills and a 1/8" ball end mill.
 
This is a new method for me and could perhaps benefit from some improvements.  One might be to leave the headstock end of the guide at full 1/4" rod diameter to more firmly hold the pin, although this has not been a problem.   Doing this at the handle end would make the end difficult to round and size. However, I do not see enough potential benefit to make a new guide.
 
Having made a few dozen of these, I am well satisfied with the final result and the efficiency.  I do worry a bit about the few hundred on-off cycles on the ancient Unimat motor however.  (I do have a spare.)
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 131 – Belaying Pins
 
Actual modeling work on Young America has been slow through the holiday period, but I have been putting a lot of effort into research on her rigging and the development of a detailed rigging list with specs for all the lines.  This has been a slow process because rigging was undergoing constant change through the life of the ship – for example moving to the use of iron for many attachments and rigging lines (chain, wire) as well.  Also, sources on sizes, where they exist, vary.  This work will go on for some time.
 
As this “paperwork” has progressed, it has thrown off a variety of diverting questions as to how many (small) parts will be made – for example shackles, iron strapped blocks, gin blocks, etc.  I decided to tackle iron belaying pins as a side project, but one that arises soon in the construction.
 
Model belaying pins often suffer from poor proportionality – generally being too large – especially the wooden variety.  I am determined that the 250 or so of these on the YA model will not suffer from this, so I began work on making these.
 
This started with the use of brass tubing to create a steady rest around a brass rod so these could be turned in the lathe.  This did not work well on the .032” brass rod needed for these.  The next step was to try filing these in the lathe using the simple hardwood guide shown in the first picture.
 

 
The block was stepped and shaped to the pin outline.  A v-shaped groove was cut on the lathe centerline to contain the brass rod.  The next picture shows some filing in progress.
 

 
The results were not too bad – as far as being proportional at least.  The first few made this way are shown below.
 

 
While these are about the right size there is variation in their shapes that needed to be eliminated.  A few of these have been blackened to simulate the iron of the originals.
 
I decided that a much more accurate filing guide was needed and decided to make it to fit in a lathe tailstock chuck – and also to make it robust so it would not bend or break as 250 of these pins were made.  In the first picture a ¼” brass rod is being indicated in the 4-jaw lathe chuck so a deep .032”center hole could be very accurately drilled.
 

 
A small center drill in the tailstock chuck was then used to spot the center.  The .032" hole was then drilled to about .6 inches.  The rod was the transferred to the milling machine for cutting the belaying pin profile.
 

 
To cut the profile, a very accurate CAD drawing of the pin profile was made showing the precise cutting depths and positions so these could be set using the mill's calibration wheels.  In the next picture the guide has been set up in a tailstock chuck and the brass rod passed through the headstock drill chuck and into the guide.
 

 
With the rod contained in the guide the profile could be filed with the lathe running.  In the next picture a round file is being used to shape the concave handle curves.
 

 
The diameter of the lower part of the pin is about 1½” (.021” actual).  This is being filed down with a flat file in the next picture.
 

 
As each of the first few pins were made the guide itself was filed to refine the convex curves of the pin handle that were not easily cut on the mill.  Some of the first few pins are shown in the next picture.
 

 
These look better and should be satisfactory.  They will be mostly hidden by rope coils. Some more polish may help with the blackening and these should get better with practice.  These took less than 5 minutes each.  This will get tedious so I am interspersing it with other work need to complete the deck detailing.
 
 
Ed

Hello, Bob,
 
Glad to hear your model is progressing.
 
I will try to answer your questions.  First, whether the pins are wood or iron I would make them of brass because wood will not be strong enough on a rigged model at this small size.  I believe they are strong enough for the service using the hard brass.  The pins are on the long side.  I intend to trim them to a uniform length before final finishing rather than clip them accurately when separating them in the lathe.  They will be trimmed then pickled and blackened in one or two batches when all are made.
 
It is true that the wire is inserted into the guide by sliding the tailstock forward over the chucked wire, but it is not restrained at the tail end.  It is held down because the guide surfaces do not extend to the centerline of the part.  File pressure is light and there has been no problem with the wire staying in place.  Even the thin section at the lower end has not shown any deflection during filing.  I am using a medium file (#2 Grobet) on that section and on the handle end initially then a fine round and flat to finish.  They are then polished using crocus pushed down with a pencil eraser.
 
I am not sure of the speed, probably fairly low surface speed due to the small diameter.  Three cutters were used to make the guide  3/8" and 1/8" square end mills and a 1/8" ball end mill.
 
This is a new method for me and could perhaps benefit from some improvements.  One might be to leave the headstock end of the guide at full 1/4" rod diameter to more firmly hold the pin, although this has not been a problem.   Doing this at the handle end would make the end difficult to round and size. However, I do not see enough potential benefit to make a new guide.
 
Having made a few dozen of these, I am well satisfied with the final result and the efficiency.  I do worry a bit about the few hundred on-off cycles on the ancient Unimat motor however.  (I do have a spare.)
 
Ed